An Invitation You’ll Want to Accept: Find Your “Uncommon Courage”

Uncommon Courage by Andrea T. Edwards

The first thing I thought when I picked up Uncommon Courage by global award-winning B2B communications professional and certified speaker Andrea T Edwards was, “what a BIG book!” But the subtitle is “An Invitation” so how can you pass that up? And then cracking open the book, it looked so inviting just as the subtitle said … friendly font, boxes with special sections, graphics, drawings and “space.” It truly did look inviting! 

The back of the book says, “Uncommon Courage is an invitation to be your courageous best self every day. It’s an antidote to the overwhelm, fear and rage rolling around the world. It brings you a path to contentment, peace and happiness.” Well, I’m in. Let’s get started!

AN UNCOMMONLY GOOD BOOK ABOUT EMBRACING LIFE

I have to say that this is a very unique book and well worth its weight (literally). It is not your typical self-help book. It is full of stories and inspiration, and, at the same time, Andrea is like your cheerleader in life. She says that the book came to be from her “50 Wisdoms in 50 Days” videos that she put out during the start of the pandemic. They were messages of encouragement and hope during this difficult time we were all going through; they then became the impetus for this book (with 50 messages blossoming into 108!). 

Uncommon Courage is meant to help you embrace life regardless of everything else going on around you. According to Andrea, “once you fully embrace the deeper wisdom of peace, love, and joy, well … you need to embrace them all the time, regardless of external influence, and especially not just when the going is good.”

All the messages in the book fit into seven key wisdoms:

• Self-awareness
• Self-empowerment
• Empower others
• External influence
• Social leadership
• Career thoughts
• Climate courage

The messages include such topics as:

• Do you have voices in your head?
• Worry is a waste of time
• Let people be dicks sometimes
• Integrity and values
• Beware the victim mindset
• You’ve just got to do you
• Focus on the best in people
• Seize your moments

And 100 more! 

SOME KEY TAKEAWAYS WE CAN ALL BENEFIT FROM

I learned that 90% of the things we worry about never come to pass, and maybe even 99%, which “means that the only real effect of worry is that it stops us from moving forward.” The best thing you can do, then, is to put all that energy spent on worry into focusing on changing the situation. “Worry won’t change the situation – but actions will.”

Give each other the benefit of the doubt. This is how we make room for grace. “When we don’t give the benefit of the doubt, we lock people into being their worst selves, even if it was just momentary,” since ultimately, “when you really let the negative emotions go, you are giving a gift to yourself.”

Trusting your own council is a strength – not weakness or arrogance. “You take input and advice from those around you and then you draw your own conclusions based on your knowledge, your experience, and your insights” because when it comes right down to it, “The only goal in life is working out who you are.”

BRIMMING WITH BOLD, BRAVE BABY STEPS TO SUCCESS

In the afterword, Andrea’s husband, Steve (who we feel like we get to know in the book), says that the book is “thought provoking, scary and exciting, all at the same time.” He is right about that. Andrea takes us on this journey with her as she “unpacks her 50 years of life experiences recounting amazing and humbling interactions around the world through the lens of her boundless and unquestionable curiosity.” 

This book is packed full of words of encouragement, inspiration, humor, humility and practical advice that you can actually apply to your own life. As Andrea says, “pick something you can change today and just start.” That’s it … pure and simple.