Bravado and stupidity v. courage and leaps of faith

I went down to the lake yesterday in the hope of taking out a boat and sailing for a while. The wind however was so strong that I really hadn't a chance of staying upright. I am a beginner and acknowledged this. I dont want to loose my confidence through bravado and stupidity. It then became an easy decision sit by the shore and watch. I spent a while there as a couple of experts were negotiating their way around the waters, reading the wind and making snap decisions based on experience. I learnt a great deal from my observations.
This made me think about decisions we have to take in life. Often we go ahead with a sense of bravado because there is someone to impress - that person is often our own self! Alternatively we end up doing stupid things on the strength of a decision made to please someone else. Its all very well learning from mistakes but how many do we have to make before we actually sit up and take note? It's always good to review situations as long as that doesn't involve beating ourselves up over what went 'wrong'.
There are however also situations where courage and a leap fo faith is needed. These present in very different ways and usually involve a strong sense of 'knowingness'. It is as if fate has conspired to bring us to a point where we just know that to do nothing would be wrong and yet to act is to face our fears. This is a sure and certain way to break free from old habit patterns and to risk embracing the new. It does take courage and a leap of faith but the invisible bungy rope is there when we follow our strong intuitions and dive off the illusionary precipice.
It may take hours of meditation or deliberating before we act but once that leap is taken the world shifts in our favour and new horizons open up to us. Opportunities arise of which we had only previously dreamed. If we resist then the pressure increases and can become unbearable. However, when we celebrate the changes, the pace slows becoming manageable, the path opens up to us and we gain a strong foothold.