FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE®: MICRO-COURAGE - A TINY PRACTICE THAT BUILDS BIG CONFIDENCE

Tune in for another episode related to fear in midlife and beyond. This week I introduce micro-courage - a tiny way to access your courage and build confidence along the way.

Any light bulbs appear over your head as you listened? Send me your thoughts at karli@flipsideofmidlife.com. 

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Transcript

Karli: 0:08

Hey there, my friend. It's me, Karli, your favorite Gen X dealer of positive vibes, Life and Wellness Coach, and Community Builder for women in midlife and beyond. Thanks for joining me for this episode of FLIPSIDE OF MIDLIFE®. I'd like to invite you before we get started to join my email list. The link is right there in the show notes and transcript for you. There's always a corresponding email that goes along with an episode. Whether it's one of my meditations that come out every other Sunday, or the episodes like this one that you're listening to, that come out on Wednesdays, there's an email that corresponds with it that leads into this topic. So I encourage you to go to that link and sign up, join my email list. I promise you'll benefit from reading the email and listening to the podcast. We're in October, a month where I am talking about fear in every one of my episodes and emails, and today is no different. Today I want to talk about the daily fears in our life that tiptoe into the room with us. How it creeps into our self-talk, how it flares your impostor syndrome, and wears down your willingness to step out of your comfort zone to try something new. And I write this from personal experience, my friend. My hope for you listening to this episode today is that you can hear some familiar things and notice the fear that does tiptoe into your room along with you every day, and be able to tap into your courage so that you can fizzle your fear and reduce the power it has over you. Reality, my friend, you will never eliminate fear, so learning how to notice it and work with your courage is going to help you build self-trust and confidence, and that is a big, beautiful thing in midlife and beyond. We tell ourselves that fear is big, and on the flip side of that, we tell ourselves that courage is difficult. I'm here to introduce you to a form of courage that is teeny tiny. I call it a micro courage, and it's easy to access. It's something you can easily manage. It's the teeniest, tiniest step that you can think of that feels good to you, that feels right for you in the moment to just poke a little hole in that fear. Remember, your fear is not going to be eliminated, but when you notice it, and you can greet it with self-kindness and self-compassion, and invite courage to come into the room with you, the power that fear has over you dissipates. Courage can be very effective when practiced in small, teeny, tiny micro ways. It might look like speaking up for yourself or someone else. It might look like saying no when something doesn't feel right, rather than trying to please the other person who's making the ask. It might look like saying yes to something that scares you a little bit, that's going to have you step out of your comfort zone, but you can see how it might lead to more possibilities for you. And it might even look like resting instead of pushing through, canceling plans, or changing your mind. Prioritizing yourself and your needs is a micro courage. Can you imagine if you practiced a few micro courages every day, how that might help build your confidence, how it might make you more aware of the fear that comes into the room with you, and how it can prove to yourself that you can handle fear, that you can get through difficult things? By having some successes on the other side of those micro courages, recognizing that you have more courage inside of you than you've ever recognized before. How beautiful is that? So my friend, I encourage you to notice when those little fears show up for you. Become aware of when and how you may be experiencing some fears that you haven't seen as fear up until now. And then know how you might tap into micro courage in those moments. So why not take a moment right now and write down three fears that show up for you. Here's some examples I gave in this week's email. Hesitation to put yourself and your needs first. The reluctance to say yes to an opportunity that might lead you to bigger opportunities. And third, the desire to have everything perfect. And then for each of those fears, write down two examples of micro courage you can tap into when those particular fears show up. So what feels like an easy, doable step for you when you're experiencing that fear? Keep that list on your phone. Keep it on your desk, put it on a sticky note and attach it to your mirror or your computer screen. Where can you have it where it's accessible and it helps you build the habit of greeting that fear with a micro moment of courage? Like any habit, my friend, consistent practice reinforces the habit and it makes it stick. So reflect on what will help you notice it more easily and take the action more easily. Because that my friend builds self-trust and self-confidence and makes it easier for you to tap into that courage even when the fears get bigger. Thank you for joining me here today, my friend. I am so grateful for your time and for showing up to listen and for taking what you heard today and applying it into your midlife and beyond. I love hearing from you. If you have feedback or questions or want to suggest topics for my 2026 episodes, please reach out. I'm at karli@flipsideofmidlife.com. I'll be back next week with one last episode on the topic of fear. Take care, my friend. Be well. I'll be back soon.