I am thankful for my courage and willpower, which drive me to succeed against the odds.

Willpower is a poor engine. It runs out by mid-afternoon and it's the first thing to go when you're tired or hungry. People who reliably get hard things done aren't wading through more of it — they've arranged their lives so less is needed.

Courage is different. Not the absence of fear, but the specific act of moving while the fear is still fully switched on. Anyone who has made a phone call they'd avoided for a week knows the feeling of dialing with a wobbling hand.

That's the part worth thanking. Not nerve. The willingness to act without it.