five seconds of courage

Listening to my co-host Chris Avery speak about his choice to run every day even though he hates running, he said something that I related to powerfully, he said, “the hardest part of running every day is not the running itself, it was getting from his couch to the front door.” This made me think of the mantra “It takes .05 seconds of courage to change everything.”

This is a mantra I have used over and over again. I realize that the idea of doing something hard is way harder than actually doing it. This is so good to know because it helps keep my mind quiet when I prepare for hard tasks, in this case, Chris was talking about exercise, but it could be so many different things that are a challenge for me like public speaking, visiting family, and those times I am preparing to get vulnerable. These are times my brain will kick into high gear and start running me on the gerbil wheel. Even knowing this and practicing this mantra all the time, I still get stuck, so I have to be patient with the process and keep practicing.

So what exactly is the idea of five seconds of courage?

For me, the mantra is part of the stop thought opposite action that I have been taught in my recovery journey. I remind myself in those scary moments five seconds can change everything then I just go. This action towards action creates more action, and that is the absolute goal. Allow the momentum to create the motivation, it feels counterintuitive, but it is absolutely how it works. When we get moving towards a goal, we get closer, and when we get closer we can often see and feel the progress, when we see it that creates energy to keep going, this is motivating, and the momentum keeps going. I cannot even scratch the surface of how many times this has changed the course of my life.

Imagine not only being able to get up off the couch and go exercise, but what about apologies, family relationships, school and work challenges, and personal relationships? How many of those things I just mentioned could benefit from five seconds of courage?

Writing for me is an exercise in five seconds of courage, I never know if anyone is going to read it, I do it because I thought I never could, and I was scared to put words into the world, to be judged.

Without five seconds of courage, I would not be married, I would not be in Seattle, and I would not be podcasting, I have a list as long as my arm of the things that have changed in my life because I took the five seconds of courage to get from the couch to the front door.

You want to know and experience what your best life can look like, do the hard things, take five seconds of courage, and change the outcomes, look life is fucking hard no matter what, you may as well love the hard, or at least choose the hard when you can so you know why you are doing it. Before anyone gets the idea that I run around tackling every scary thing, I do not, I do my fucking best, and when I come up short, I get up and try again.

That is something we are all capable of doing. I did not always believe that, and I struggle with self-doubt and fear every day. Just like everyone else, just take five seconds of courage, get up, dust yourself off, and get back in the fight!