How do you become a courageous person?

[Anonymous]

I grew up with very protective parents, telling me everything was dangerous. Unfortunately this has turned me into a very cautious person. I have friends becoming pilots, driving race cars, jumping with the parachute etc and I’m a bit sad not to be able to do those things, but for me it’s unthinkable, I’m too scared of it

[WonderBell99]

Your parents gave you good advice. Being cautious is a good thing, not a bad one. In all of my 17 years, I have seen people getting hurt both emotionally and physically, because they were careless. You need to be cautious of the people you associate yourself with. Don’t trust anyone easily. It has to be earned.

The word you are looking for is probably “adventurous”. None of the things you describe show valor or courage, at least, according to me. For pilots, flying airplanes is their profession which requires considerable amount of strenuous training and their schedules are often pretty jammed. Driving race cars? Many people do it as a hobby. I once knew an older gentleman who raced cars professionally and suffered severe injuries. He got sick for years on end. Jumping off a parachute? Eh.. you have high chances of getting paralyzed if things go wrong.

Don’t go full on wild and take baby steps. Try scuba diving first. It’s pretty safe unless you are scared of the sea.

[Justarandomsadguy]

Your environment has conditioned you to be someone you are definitely not. Humans are social beings. We need to go out and do crazy stuffs that makes us happy. And being courageous has got nothing to do with your upbringing. It's just a leap of faith. I can understand if u parents are over protective and over bearing. But it's high time u start becoming rebellious and do what your heart desires without any regrets.
"... Forget safety, live where you fear to live, destroy your reputation, be notorious!
- Rumi

[Adam1978]

Why would you take unecissary risks? That is how you potentially end up in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. No good risk vs reward in that one. Courage isn't about taking risks, it's about taking risk when you need to. Not just doing stupid things to challenge yourself.

[exitseven]

Start out by doing one single thing outside your comfort zone. You dong have to jump out of an airplane, just something you would not ordinarily do.