We can choose courage or comfort, but not both at the same time. Think about that for just a moment. Try to find a time when you could do both. Find a time when you did either. Today.

Got one? Are you fearing the consequences of your choices and if so, are you choosing the right ones to spend your precious energy on?

Completely confused? Decision anxiety surrounds all kinds of choices. We make a selection based on past experience or what we hope someone else will or won’t think. There are solutions to this potentially paralyzing, energy sucker.

For example, Sally is tired. She’s exhausted after work and has little left to give to her relationships. She does the next best thing and avoids interaction altogether. She’s had some behavior changes that have taken control of her energy reserves. Her body has also responded about the same way that parking a car outdoors for a year without touching it would. It’s not good.

Sally decided in December that things would be different. Here comes the courage. Courage to break the normal routine and put her life, health, and wellbeing in a priority spot. Will this work this time?

At this point no one really knows but she knew the first step was to get moving. Perhaps she’ll get back to the gym, go to the park, and take a walk after dinner. These things make her feel better and she knows they will contribute to her overall health as well as help to replenish her energy deficiency.

She went to the gym in January; new workout gear was a gift for herself and the accomplishment greeted her daily. After week one, she felt better and was excited about the decisions she’d made. Better sleep and better choices came easier and it felt good to feel her body in motion.

Weeks two and three came and went. By week four comfort was calling. She had gotten a sharpie marker on her favorite workout pants from a pack of work stuff she had in her bag, her bright new shoes were a bit dull from a walk on a dirty path and the subsequent cleaning, the thought that needed to go into variety and pursuing an improved version of herself was a bit of work. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

Do you notice how you feel for Sally right now? When courage was here, we felt hope, excitement, and the satisfaction of doing something she’d wanted to do. We were rooting for her! Then ‘comfort’ came. And we got sad or in my case irritated. Really, I mean really? An ink stain, dirty shoes, and a few more choices are going to completely derail this path that has led to amazing results and personal growth? The huge impact to overall life and all of the opportunity ahead is about to get run over by the comfort bus.

I’m not ruling out all things comfortable; I love my comfy bed, my comfortable shoes and pjs, and such. I’m talking about life choices that matter. The ones that we can easily let pass us by or the ones we take a sharp left turn to avoid having to deal with.

Let’s think about what we are really missing. We are missing new relationships and experiences. We miss out on challenges that make us better, stronger, and able to help others.

We have to stop relinquishing our plans and dreams at the first sight of difficulty. We will fail repeatedly. Cool, because that is exactly how we learn what not to do. Some of us learn the same lesson a few times before it sticks {me}.

It is good to support one another in new endeavors. We can lift each other up with kudos and accountability. Understand that caring for ourselves and each other equips us for all that life has to offer. This requires courage.

What we need to do is get comfortable being courageous. Fear can be real. That emotion is powerful only because we allow it to be. We may have to dig deep to find the faith that we need to get to it, whatever it is. Let’s do this. We get to choose courage every day. Start small, be consistent, change your life!