Courage from cricket's point of view: Willingness to fail is courage

 I was playing cricket today and when I was bowling off spin, I was listening to my captain on what kind of bowling would he like me to bowl. He was constantly talking about you should ball full length deliveries and that will get me wickets. I totally understand and respect his thought process. And well he was right, and meanwhile when I corrected my head position I was able to bowl the deliveries that I wanted to. What really went wrong was that at times I would bowl short deliveries and that would go for runs. So well, I did learn that I was bowling well and also the fact that when I was bowling there would be chances of wickets. I created 3 chances of wickets but no one really caught those catches. While that's okay and those things happen, one really interesting thing happened. One of my team mate, Kapil told me that you have to be courageous enough to bowl ahead. One mindset he taught me was that you have to have the courage to be hit for a six. Without that courage you wouldn't really be a good off spinner. Beautiful thought. That's when I understood that courage is about being willing to fail. When you fail, thats the time when you know that you need to change. But if you say that I am not ready to bowl, then you will never know. So courage is all about showing up and being willing to fail. Only when you have that courage you will be able to achieve or reach that potential. 

While this is all the theory, I want to link this to my practical example of courage. I feel like when I was afraid of getting hit, I was trying to bowl faster, but when I tried focusing on my line and length instead, it was naturally very difficult for a batsman to hit me. They did try hitting me but to no avail, the bowl spun and created more opportunities. I feel that's what focusing on my line and length is very important. In fact, after bowling a wide, I tried bowling faster, in that I lost my courage and rythm. So it's important to forget the scores, forget the runs that you are giving, forget the wickets, but just truly focus on the line and the length. Once the ball is released there's nothing in your control. It's all about how a batsman tries to play that. In fact, I should understand my mistakes, but next time the mindset will be I won't care too much about runs and wickets. I would just bowl to my strengths and that will give me great control over the batsman. I will have a fielder straight as well, because when I tried bowling outside off length, it was difficult for the batsman to hit over midwicket. Instead he was hitting the ball straight to long on if I had one. The long on would have been a straightish long on. But that's the experience teaching me. Now to take this thought and connect to you cannot swim to new horizon's until you have courage to lose sight of the shore. Beautiful thought out here. Especially on how this situation ended. When I thought that I will take wickets, etc, I struggled. I was tried to view the shore. But the new horizons would be you don't really have to worry about how far you are bowling or what you are losing. Sometimes things are way too familiar. For example, certain things and processes are way too familiar to us, but when we lose sight of the shore that's when we discover the new land. It's not about the land being good or bad, but rather about whether that land is new or not. Whether you learnt and discovered something new or not. I am sure multiple people might have spoken about courage in one way or the other. To me being able to get hit for a six is courage. Courage is about being vulnerable to being hit for a six. Courage is about being vulnerable to get hurt. Courage is about being vulnerable to feel bad. Courage is about being okay failing. Willingness or the attitude of what if I go wrong, I think that's courage and we should always keep increasing courage in our lives and in the lives of others. 

Courage is not being fearless. Courage is shaking at the knees, choking on your words, heart gripped by uncertainty, but stepping forward on your journey anyway. Sometimes we are afraid to have a tough conversation, sometimes we are afraid that people will judge you, sometimes we are afraid of succeeding, sometimes we are afraid of failing, sometimes we are just afraid that someone will reject you, sometimes you are afraid that you will be hit for a six, sometimes you are afraid of getting out, but what if I say, go have that tough conversation, go public speaking and let people judge you, go succeed and let people hae their opinions, go out and get rejected once, I am 100% sure that if you wouldn't succeed the first time, I am sure that you will learn a lot of every thing that you just experienced. Life has to be experienced. Life needs to have experiments. I am sure there are sure short ways of doing something, but experimenting will bring you so much experience in life that it would be wonderful. Like I said, it's important to face your fears and the certainty that the fear will be changed is what you should live for. Now there are certain action steps that are there out here: First of all you should name your fear clearly. Okay let's go ahead and see the action points. 

Action Points to Build Real Courage

1. Name your fear clearly

Most fears gain power from being vague.
Write down exactly what you’re afraid of.
Example:

• “I’m afraid I’ll fail.”

• “I’m afraid people will judge me.”

• “I’m afraid I’ll disappoint someone.”

Once you name it, it becomes something you can face — not something that controls you.

2. Take the smallest possible step forward

Courage doesn’t always mean bold leaps.
It’s often just a single step forward in the presence of fear.

• If you’re scared to speak up — say one sentence.

• If you’re nervous to try something new — just start the first 5 minutes.

• If you’re afraid to fail — commit to one small experiment.

Momentum builds confidence.
Fear shrinks when you move.

3. Feel the fear — don’t fight it

When your heart races or hands tremble, don’t resist it.
Pause, breathe deeply, and acknowledge, “This is fear, and it’s okay.”

Fear is your body preparing for something meaningful — not something wrong.
Once you accept that, you can act with steadier focus.

4. Detach from the outcome

Fear often roots in wanting control over how things turn out.
Shift focus from “What if this fails?” to “What can I learn?”

Act with intention, not attachment.
Do your work, then step back — like Lao Tzu said.

5. Practice small acts of courage daily

Courage grows like a muscle — through repetition.
Try one small brave thing each day:

• Start a tough conversation.

• Share an honest post.

• Try a new skill.

• Admit a mistake.

Each act strengthens your “fear tolerance.”

6. Reflect afterward — not during

Don’t overthink mid-action.
Act first, analyze later.
Once done, reflect:

“What did I learn from facing that fear?”
“Was the outcome as bad as I imagined?”

You’ll often realize the fear was louder than the truth.

7. Surround yourself with calm, courageous people

Courage is contagious.
When you spend time around grounded, purposeful people, their calm becomes your standard.
Seek teammates, mentors, or friends who encourage doing rather than just talking.

8. Reframe fear as growth

Every time fear shows up, say to yourself:

“This means I’m stretching.”
“Discomfort is the cost of expansion.”

That simple mindset shift turns fear from a stop sign into a guidepost.

For me one of my fear is the fear of rejection. One thing I learnt about it is that everyone will have that fear of rejection to certain extent. It's impossible to completely eradicate it. However, once you face rejections multiple times you would be immune to it. You also need a supportive leader or a mentor to tell you to do that. So go ahead and do what you fear and there is certainty that the thing you fear the most will go away. Just be willing to fail. 

Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous or honest. 

Courage as the prerequisite for virtue

Courage isn't primarily about physical bravery in the face of danger, it's about the willingness to act according to your values despite fear, discomfort, or social pressure. Without it, other virtues become hollow or situational rather than genuine.

Kindness requires courage because genuine compassion often demands we give when it costs us something. It takes courage to help someone unpopular, to show tenderness when you might be mocked, or to offer aid when there's no benefit to yourself. Easy kindness isn't really kindness at all, it's merely friendliness. Real kindness frequently requires us to overcome indifference, social disapproval, or self-interest.

Honesty demands courage because truth-telling inevitably creates friction. Telling someone hard feedback, admitting your mistakes, speaking up against injustice, or confessing guilt all risk consequences. Without courage, we default to convenient lies, half-truths, and silence. We tell people what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear.

Mercy and generosity require courage too. Showing mercy means risking being seen as weak or foolish. Generosity means facing the fear of scarcity or loss. Both demand we overcome the instinct toward self-protection.

Why consistency matters

The key word here is "consistency." Anyone can be kind, honest, or generous when it's easy or rewarded. The question is whether you'll maintain these virtues when doing so is difficult, unpopular, or costly. That consistency is what transforms virtue from occasional behavior into genuine character, and that transformation depends entirely on courage. Without it, your virtues are merely convenient performance, not authentic commitment.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. How beautiful. I think all of us are afraid. Because it's still a survival mechanism. I believe fear is what our forefathers taught us for our survival. If it was not for the fear, we would have been eaten by the wild animals and our species would not have survived. It's this fear that helped us in so many ways. So it's impossible to get rid of fear. Any fear that's based on our survival mechanism is good. However, what I am trying to talk about here is the fear that's not based on survival. It's based on something else. It can be based on anything, but what matter is that there's a part that should not be there. Fear should never stop us from achieving our goals. Some might say you are too early to achieve this, some might say something but fear is the most dangerous thing. You have to be courageous enough. What I mean by courage now : I would just leave this one definition. "Its your willingness to go out there and fail." Imagine if you don't bowl at all, you will never fail at bowling. If you don't bat at all, you will never fail at batting. But when you don't show up at all, you will fail. You will lose everything. So never ever run away from your difficulties in life. Rather face it as it is. That's when you develop courage.