Being a writer is a lot like living in The Wizard of Oz. Some days you feel like you’ve lost your brain, most days feel like you’re holding onto your heart, and every day feels like a battle for your courage.

That’s how the Cowardly Lion felt just before he and the rest of the gang went in to see the Wizard in Emerald City. In one of the best musical moments of the whole movie, he says,

What makes the elephant charge his tusk, in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk?

What makes the Sphinx the seventh wonder?

What makes the dawn come up like thunder?

At the end of each line, the group says, “Courage!” Near the end of the song, the Cowardly Lion says,

What have they got that I ain’t got?

And the answer, of course… is courage.

But is it true? Is it true that you don’t have courage? Or is it possible that we have misunderstood the true nature of courage?

One of the great American writers, Mark Twain, is helpful here. He said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” This is a key insight. It reminds us that it’s impossible to get rid of fear. Fear will always be with you. Courage just means that you are taking action and forging ahead even though you are afraid.

This is quiet courage. It’s the kind of courage that ordinary writers practice every day. They get out of bed, they face uncertainty, they feel afraid sometimes, but they do their work anyway because that’s the only thing within their control. They resist fear by taking small daily steps toward their goals.

Quiet courage doesn’t get a lot of attention. The courageous writers don’t make a fuss and don’t draw attention to themselves. They show up, do the work, and serve people through their writing.

You don’t win your inner creative battle with a giant explosion every once in a while. You win it by getting into the trenches every day, staring your fear square in the face, and doing the work anyway.

So, the next time you hear yourself asking, “What have they got that I ain’t got?” … the answer is, “Not a darn thing.” You’ve had your courage with you the whole time. You just need to use it.

Question: What could your life look like a year from now if you practiced quiet courage every day?