We are all living through difficult and uncertain times right now, with unforeseen challenges to our daily personal, social, and work lives. It may leave some of us feeling worried, anxious, distraught, and perhaps unsure of how to best manage certain situations. While there are no magic answers, I try to read and learn from a variety of sources and share that with others. Today, I’d like to focus our attention on the writings and message of UC Berkeley faculty member Alex Budak and how I believe his principles might apply to managing one’s emotional health. As an award-winning educator, speaker, and author, he offers insights that help people understand the concept of courage in everyday moments and turn uncertainty into change. I found an article he wrote for the August 2025 issue of the Harvard Business Review, titled “Six Ways to Practice Everyday Courage,” to be very perceptive. I encourage those who are interested to read Budak’s published books and works. I believe his message is something we can all learn from and adopt in our own personal, social, family, and work lives, and it has relevance in our efforts to maintain a healthy mental and emotional life.

Budak begins by emphasizing that everyday courage is not the same as the bravery or exceptional acts of heroism that arise in a crisis. Rather, everyday courage can be thought of as the small daily actions that are aligned with our values and embraced during moments of doubt, risk, or fear. He identifies six types of everyday courage that reflect our most common challenges today. I will do my best to summarize his concepts and share my thoughts on this. I know that these ideas can be overwhelmingly difficult to follow and stick with during episodes of depression,

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