Finding Courage & Waking Up to Your Worth

by Nothile Majola

Courage is broadly defined as “the ability to control your fear in a dangerous or difficult situation.”Synonymous with bravery or fearlessness.

Difficult circumstances are inherent in life. They hold us back; they cripple our abilities to do things that we would have been able to do under normal circumstances and sometimes even our abilities to do things under any conditions at all. It is in these difficult situations that understanding courage comes in vital.

I struggled with self-acceptance while growing up, and the older I grew, it became increasingly difficult for me. One big factor that contributed to my lack of self-awareness and acceptance was comparison. Yes, I said it – comparison. I never saw myself as being “equal” to the girls that were around me and because of that, I struggled to value myself and find the courage to do things that I liked. I had labelled certain activities to be worthy of people who were “thick enough”, “light enough”, “fit enough” , “whose skin was clear enough” and looking back now, I realize the opportunities I missed out on, because of how my worth was based on what I thought was “socially acceptable.” Additionally, the inability to control my fears and what people thought of me led to diminished self-confidence.

My spiritual journey played a huge role in catalysing the process of becoming the courageous woman I intended to be. This came in the form of a “nudge from the Holy Spirit” where God placed thoughts and ideas in my heart about my worth and abilities. I would brush off these nudges, because in my head they were not for women like me. Looking back at how I responded and where I am today, I have learned that it was simply my inability to see myself the way God does. Basically, I was sleeping on myself. I failed to see myself the way God sees me.

I wanted to encourage you to stop sleeping on yourself. God thinks so highly of you. Go for your goals, embrace who you are and wake up to fulfil your dreams. Walking in who God has called me to has changed my attitude towards my life; I began to love myself on levels that I didn’t know existed because I finally accepted true and non-circumstantial love from Him. I became bold and courageous about my purpose.

It’s so easy to close your eyes and lose sight of who you are truly meant to be. The journey to a courageous life is not easy.

I would like to share some practical steps I took in finding courage and waking up to my worth;

1. Trusting the Lord: although this may not be relevant for everyone given our diverse spiritual groundings, it went a long way in setting a foundation. Two Bible verses that have helped me internalise this; “I am chosen by God who called me out of the darkness of sin and into the light and life of Christ so I can proclaim the excellence and greatness of who He is” – 1 Peter 2:9

How “I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ to do good works that He has prepared for me to do” – Ephesians 2:10

Placing boundaries on things that caused me to relapse:  Especially when it came to comparison, I had to remove things that made me compare myself to others, like limit the amount of time spent on social media and rather investing more of that time to better the woman who I intended to be.
Changing environments: I had to learn that not everyone who was in my life, at the time, was headed where I was and had to leave some relationships that did not influence me to become the best version of myself.
Rethinking/examining habits that caused me to fall. I had to learn that God wanted a relationship with me and all I had to do was acknowledge Him.