“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power” ~ Alan Cohen

Courage, also known as bravery, will, intrepidity, and fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.
There can be different path to do a thing but choosing an unconventional path requires courage. Courage is when we know the odds are against us. 

 "Physical courage" is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, or threat of death, while "moral courage" is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.

Courage is like a shortcut to risk management system, sometimes we have the confidence and we know the plan, but we know that there are still some risks involved; at this time courage comes in play, with which we forgo the risks and set ahead.

Courage is the ability to stand by things that we believe in; it helps us in reaffirming things that we believe in; It helps us in maintaining the essence of what we are supposed to do. Path to display courage will be different for everyone because courage is dependent on what a person believes in. An artist will have courage to paint a picture that he believes in or an injured player will continue to play and give his best, or a worker finds courage to speak up for his rights or a first time speaker find courage to speak in front of audience, this can go on and on. The idea is “are you really doing what you believe in”.

Human beings are by far the most advanced machine in this universe, but why then we are loosing those inherent values of courage and self belief. We are so much obsessed to move in a pattern that we forget to follow our own heart and value system. Our value system always pings us to move forward because that is what we are in reality supposed to do rather that follow the bare minimum rules and values of the world. We simply give in to the lure of security and comfort and in turn loose our basic essence of humanity, to keep on moving forward.

But doing something different means extra effort, so we would need some sort of extra energy or guidance system to make that possible and that kick will be obtained from courage.

Courage is like a shield that protects our self identity and gives us the ability to rise up and move ahead. The good thing is that courage can be inculcated by gathering more knowledge, being disciplined, knowing oneself and practicing; which builds our self confidence and in turn raises our risk taking abilities.

“Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win” ~ Bernadette Devlin