An experience with courage

When I was about ten, my family and our friends went to Disney. Wanting to sound courageous, I told people I wanted to go on the Tower of Terror, even though I was completely scared and didn't want to at all. Knowing that most of my family hated rides, I figured that I could keep on saying this and still be safe from going on it. Our friends went off on a day trip the day that we would go to where the ride was, so I knew none of them could do it with me. After thinking it through, I decided the chance that I would have to go on the Tower of Terror was slim, so might as well just keep talking about it to sound brave. However, my plan turned around when my dad said he wanted to too. That day, I purposely ate an huge breakfast so I could say I did not want to get sick on the ride because I had eaten so much. Once we had been at Disney that day for a few hours, my mom announced she bought passes so we could cut the line on the Tower of Terror and go on it right away. I tried to use my breakfast excuse, but I had eaten 4 hours earlier so that was not going to work anymore. Wanting to seem excited, I suggested that we could just go now, but in reality, I wanted to just get it over with. My dad then told me the ride was just like being in an elevator, that it went straight down. At this point, I figured even if I die, at least I can say I went on it. An hour later, we were getting on the ride. In my head I pictured the thing were we sat going straight down the side of the building, with us facing the ground, and that I would just tumble out. The theme music began to play, and we went down. It was actually like an elevator. We didn't go down the side of the building and I didn't fall out. Afterwards, I was glad that I did it. This experience made me realize that sometimes things aren't as scary as they seem and that if I wanted to sound courageous, I had to be courageous. Courage is not wanting or pretending to want to do something, but actually doing it.