Courage in practice doesn’t have to be loud. Sometimes it is simply choosing to practice our values rather than our limitations.

Evelyn Waugh once said, ‘When we argue for our limitations, we get to keep them.’ I’ve always loved this reminder to lean more consciously into what we desire—our core values in action—than into the limitations before us.

To choose what we really, really want in this life. To know and belong so wholeheartedly to ourselves that our limitations dim in the light of our grounded beauty.

Life will always have limitations, impediments in the river of our days. We must learn to practice our values so consciously that we move through challenges with the strength and fluidity of water as it faithfully pours through whatever may impede its flow. In any season, water just always knows what to do.

Let’s be like water, friends. Soft to the touch, strong in any weather, and choosing to exercise our values rather than leaning into our limitations.