Micro-Acts of Courage

Courage doesn’t always look like the big moments.

It’s easy to think of courage as the stuff of headlines—the dramatic pivot, the big speech, the leap into the unknown. But if I’ve learned anything in leadership (and in life), it’s this: the truest courage often hides in the smallest choices.

Courage is saying no when your mouth wants to say yes, but your body says otherwise.
Courage is pressing “send” on the email you’ve rewritten a dozen times because you finally chose honesty over polish.
Courage is staying in the room when your instinct is to shrink, to disappear, to make yourself small so no one notices.
Courage is walking away when you know staying would mean abandoning yourself.

Most of us underestimate these micro-acts. They don’t come with applause or recognition. Sometimes no one notices at all. But our nervous systems do. Our spirits do. These small acts are how resilience is built—not through sheer endurance, but through a steady pattern of choosing ourselves, moment by moment.

Resilience isn’t about becoming unbreakable. It’s about learning you can bend without disappearing. It’s about showing up for yourself in tiny ways until the weight of self-trust grows stronger than the weight of external approval.

I think about the times I’ve been most tired, most worn down, most tempted to numb out or default to performance. And almost always, the turning point wasn’t some grand act of bravery. It was something quiet. A whispered no. A hand over my chest in a meeting, just to remind myself I was still there. A walk around the block before responding to a request. A micro-act of courage that no one else saw, but I knew.

And that’s what matters.

Because each time we choose those small acts, we’re re-patterning our lives. We’re teaching ourselves that we don’t have to abandon our truth to keep leading, to keep living, to keep being worthy. We’re reminding ourselves that courage is not a performance. It’s a practice.

So if you’re carrying the weight of resilience right now, let me offer you this: stop looking for the big moment to prove it. Start noticing the micro-acts you’re already living.

The pause before you agree.
The breath before you speak.
The choice to stay. Or leave. Or rest.

These are not small. They are everything.

And if no one else tells you today: I see your courage.