Why are some people brave and others such cowards?

I became 'less brave' when I had loved ones depending on me for things like not being homeless.

As an example, I once canned an interview I did with NPR (about the hosing crisis) on the off chance that my landlord might hear it, recognize me and be uncomfortable with it for whatever reason. Because unlikely stuff like that happens to me.

It was early in the housing crisis and we had beaten astronomical odds to find the rental we were in. Declining to renew the lease would have been a catastrophe for the six of us.