The Beautiful and Terrifying Art of Being Human
Clio Bushland is a specialist in Courageous Living and Leadership. She combines her background in Marriage and Family Therapy, neuroscience, and over two decades of business leadership. She helps people transform fear into useful data and energy while aligning their actions with their goals.
The Greeks are losing. Ares is raging across the battlefield with the Trojans, and the Greek soldiers are falling. Hera has a problem. She and Athena made a promise to Menelaus that he would not return home until Troy had fallen, and it was not looking good for Menelaus.
Hera appeals to Athena for help in turning the tide against Ares and the Trojans. Athena prepares for war. She puts on the tunic of Zeus and arms herself. She puts on a helmet and takes up her spear. Finally, she puts on the aegis.
The aegis is a terrifying thing. Descriptions differ on whether it is a shield, breastplate, or cloak, but whatever it is, it inspires awe and fear. It belongs to Zeus, but Athena is carrying it into battle. The aegis has the monstrous head of the Gorgon.
Homer also describes four more forces such as fear, strife, pursuit, and Alke.
Alke, ἀλκή, doesn’t translate neatly into English, but some of the better words are courage, prowess, defense, resistance, strength, and might. One Greek lexicon defines it as “strength displayed in action,” which is my favorite definition. Not strength visualized or declared, but strength in action.
Homer personifies Alke as a divine figure, and I cannot stop thinking about her.
We have plenty of words for what we lack
We have developed an impressive list of words to describe the qualities needed for success, confidence, motivation, discipline, resilience, grit, and self-belief.
Books, podcasts, courses, and morning routines are devoted to these topics. There are also planners, masterminds, and probably even supplements.
All of these qualities are good qualities. All of them are useful, and a big part of my professional life is helping people to unearth and increase these qualities.
The problem is that the emphasis on becoming can create the illusion that there is a version of ourselves we must achieve before we can go after what we want and fully inhabit our lives.
It goes something like this, when x happens, then I will y.
When I am more confident, I will start my business. Once I am less afraid, I will pitch that speaking engagement. After I believe in myself, I will start posting on social media.
I’ll have the conversation, make the offer, write the books, leave the job, make the ask, say yes, and say no after I have reached an internal place where I can do that without the fear and uncertainty I feel now.
The problem is that the relationship between those internal qualities and external reality is complex. There is no straight line.
Strength displayed in action
The ancient meaning of alke is richer than our modern idea of bravery. It can be defensive or offensive. It involves prowess, mettle, courage, and spirit. In all meanings, it is a word that resists cleanliness. It is a word with dirt under its fingernails.
It isn’t about how you feel. It isn’t asking who you think you are or what you think your limits are. It is asking, “What will you do?” Not, “Do you have what it takes?” Not, “What does this say about you?” Not even, “Are you brave enough?”
“What will you do?”
You don’t have to prove anything. You just have to participate.
Unfortunately, it’s more complicated than “just do it!”
It would be convenient, and lucrative, if I could tell you the secret is simply to stop thinking and act, but I can’t, because I don’t believe it.
My background in Marriage and Family Therapy makes me professionally incapable of believing that humans, and the systems they build, are that simple.
Who we are affects what we do. What we do affects who we are. What we think affects what we do. What we do affects what we think.
We used to believe that emotion and logic were separate systems. Neuroscience has challenged that. It looks like logic and emotion are more like related parts of one system we use to make sense of the world and decide what to do in it. Remove either piece, and decision-making suffers.
So there is no single, simple answer. Sometimes we need to trust ourselves and act fast. Sometimes we need more information before we act. Sometimes we need to calm our nervous system so we can think clearly. Sometimes we need help.
Sometimes fear is something to move through. Sometimes fear is a warning we would be foolish to ignore.
Eventually, we do something. Something happens. We learn. We gain a skill, or information, or humility. Maybe we gain a spectacular story of something we will never do again. Maybe we succeed. Maybe we don’t.
Either way, it shapes who we become and how we think, feel, and act. That relationship is one of the most powerful and challenging things about being human.
The world gets a vote
There is a version of agency that is sold to us that sounds wonderfully reassuring, you create your future, choose the life you want, and make it happen.
We can influence what happens next. Sometimes enormously, but it is also true that we are not omnipotent. Courage does not guarantee the outcome. Neither does hard work, intelligence, talent, or preparation. We can have all of that and still fail.
We can make the best decision possible in the moment and still later discover we were wrong. We can build something wonderful that nobody buys. We can say what needed saying and still lose the relationship. We can train and still lose. We can even make a terrible decision and get lucky.
Obviously, the outcome matters. If you start a business, you want it to succeed. If you work to repair a relationship, you want it to improve. If you apply for an opportunity, you want the answer to be “yes.”
We care deeply about what happens. We work hard for it, and the moment we act, we encounter everything we don’t control, other people, markets, bodies, timing, systems, weather, and chance.
We send a proposal, but someone else decides whether to accept it. We say what we mean, but someone else interprets it. We build the thing, but the market decides what happens next.
We control what we do, but we don’t control what happens next. That is terrifying. It is also beautiful. Courage doesn’t guarantee victory. Courage changes what becomes possible.
We don’t need to be fearless
Which brings me back to Athena. Homer put Alke in a martial battle because she belonged to the world of battle. Even though that is not my world in the literal sense, I still love the image.
Athena does not carry Alke into a peaceful world. She carries her into the fray. Not after the terrifying part is over. Not as a way to fend off the terror. Into it because no amount of confidence, wisdom, or self-belief makes the world stop being scary. It isn’t supposed to. That’s why we have courage. Alke.
Read more from Clio Bushland
Courageous Living and Leadership Specialist
Clio Bushland is a specialist in Courageous Living and Leadership who helps people move through fear with clarity and intention. Her background spans Marriage and Family Therapy, neuroscience, nonprofit leadership, and more than two decades of hands-on business management. She teaches people to transform fear from a barrier into useful data and energy, making it possible to align their actions with their goals in both work and life. Clio is known for blending research with real-world practicality, supporting leaders and individuals in building the resilience and skills needed to navigate today’s complex and rapidly changing world.
