Ryan Holiday has been one of my favorite authors since 2018. I’ve written about his books before, and they are consistently in my Best Books lists. In 2019, Holiday released the last of three books written about Stoic philosophy in today’s world, Stillness is the Key. The other two are Ego Is the Enemy and The Obstacle is the Way.. I also read a standalone of Holiday’s called Conspiracy: A True Story of Power, Sex, and a Billionaire’s Secret Plot to Destroy a Media Empire, which is still one of the craziest stories. Then, I discovered (well before a formal announcement) that Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave would be published in September 2021. I immediately ordered it and, once released, read it in one sitting.

Courage is Calling is the first of four books on the four Stoic virtues: Courage, Temperance, Justice, and Wisdom. Holiday shares real stories of courage in it, but not always in the heroic, action-movie way. Holiday goes on to describe the many faces of courage. Yes, sometimes courage is six seconds of bravery from two young Marines giving their lives to stop a truck rigged to blow up the nearby base. However, sometimes courage is quietly pursuing a path and defying convention or your family. Courage is doing the right thing when no one is looking. Courage says, “If not me, then who?”

I found myself highlighting something on nearly every page of this book. There are so many meaningful quotes to help keep you going in the face of tough choices, which is the other facet to this book: choice. Courage is a choice. You will have moments where you didn’t make the courageous choice, but the point of all of this – of life – is choice. Courage takes practice. It’s in the little moments that you think don’t matter, but those little moments train you for the big moments.

Holiday discusses fear, and its relationship to courage, throughout the book. It’s no surprise that fear keeps us from courage. It keeps us in the dead-end job, the relationship you’ve outgrown, the city you don’t love. But, as Holiday discusses, fear isn’t the opposite of courage – it’s apathy. Doing nothing, being cynical, assuming your actions don’t matter – that’s the opposite of courage. Courage is a choice. You might make the right choice. You might make the wrong one. Regardless, choosing something holds power and takes courage. Just like Gandalf says, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Choose courage. Have hope. Go first. Leave the job. Ask that person on a date. Buy the book.. Choose to do something. You’ll be happy you did something, but you’ll regret doing nothing.

Book Club Reading Guide: Courage is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave by Ryan Holiday