What Does Courage Look Like?

There is a fine line between courage and foolishness.  Courage looks different for each person.  I was not taught to be handy and work on things growing up.  My dad would fix things around the house but did not teach me very much.  When I got married and moved out on my own I now had two dads that were great at fixing things that would come to my house to help with repairs.  They did not intentionally do it, but between their high level of competence and my major failures when I did try, any bit of courage I had to try things on my own was zapped.  I moved mid-way across the country from these men and had to start figuring things out.  I am still growing in this area.  When a project comes up around the house I still feel that little boy inside me telling me I can't do it.  So for me, courage looks like these pictures.

As you can see our dryer is not working.  I decided to have courage and tackle the repair on my own.  Here is where the difference between courage and foolishness is.  The dryer would run but was not hot.  I disconnected the vent to make sure it was not a clog causing the issue.  I checked all of the settings to make sure one of them did not get changed.  Then I went to the computer.  I did research.  I figured out what is probably wrong, watched some videos, and then I made the decision to attempt the repair.  Foolishness would have been me ripping into it saying "How hard can it be?  I can figure this out."  Instead my courage came from the knowledge I had acquired doing research and from my past experience.  A friend had taught me how to fix a dishwasher.  I had replaced a belt on another dryer.  This was not a blind jump.  It is still scary but I have courage.  Hopefully when the new part arrives this story will have a happy ending.