Photo by Marilyn Nolt

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, courage is a noun meaning “ability to overcome fear or despair.” Notice fear has to be present in order for courage to exist. The English word “courage” is derived from the French word for the heart, coeur. Finding the heart to continue doing the right thing in the face of great fear inspires others to become nobler human beings. In midwifery, we see women and men facing their fears in birth; we ask them to have faith in the face of no evidence. We demand that they are bigger than the circumstances and, when they conquer, we get a renewed vision of how life can look when our fears don’t stop us. This is the source and inspiration for our own courage.