A common theme in many stories and movies is the old warrior who grows weary of battle, attempts to retreat somewhere and leave the fighting behind him. Yet, despite his best efforts, the warrior cannot avoid war, it always seems to find him no matter how hard he attempts to live a peaceful quiet life.
I think this theme keeps coming up again and again because it is a metaphor for the struggles we all face in life. No matter how hard we try to pursue quiet comfort, struggles always come our way. For in our own way, we are all warriors. Even a doctor is a warrior. They fight against death on a regular basis, attempting to hold off the Grim Reaper from claiming his next victim, even if only for a few days. We all fight battles in life, that is unavoidable. So instead of trying to escape, we might as well embrace being a warrior, and accept that war will always find us eventually. So then, if life is war, we must be resolute, disciplined, courageous soldiers prepared to give our best to secure victory on the battlefield of life.
No Easy Way – It’s All Hard
I recall, toward the end of my first time in graduate school, becoming rather burned out and tired of all the struggle. I looked for an easy way out. I never found it, and I’m certain now that is because there is no easy way out to be found in life. Whatever path we choose, we are certain to face hardships. When I was an engineer in the corporate world, I had one set of problems. Now, as a private tutor, I have a different set of problems.
I recall a YouTube motivational video stating something like “Waking up to go to work is hard. Being broke is hard. Starting your own business is hard. Being single is hard. Being married is hard. It’s all hard! Choose your hard.” There is a lot of truth in those statements.
“Embrace The Suck” – Line From Special Operations
Once we accept that hardships and battles will come our way regardless of what we do, we can prepare ourselves for the fight that we know must come. In special operations there is a line “embrace the suck.” Special operators are often required to do things that just plain suck, such as marching 15 miles in bad weather carrying a heavy pack and a rifle. They learn to embrace it, to lean into difficulties in order to secure victory and accomplish their mission. While most people will never serve in special operations, this is a valuable lesson that we could all learn from.
Need to Fight Loved Ones Sometimes
Sometimes the battles we face are with people close to us, such as friends or family who disapprove of the choices we make regarding our life path. It can be tiring to have to defend ourselves to people close to us who should actually be our staunchest supporters, but this must be done if we are to avoid losing ourselves in other people’s expectations, to stand firm and become the men and women we truly feel called to be.
My Stories…
As a graduate student in Japan, I was rather unhappy and unsatisfied with life. I was seriously considering dropping out of school the join the Army. Unfortunately I was too weak and indecisive, and bowed to pressure from friends and family to stay in school, do the “respectable” thing in terms of studying and building a career in engineering. To this day, my biggest regret is that I did not fight hard to pursue my dream of military service. I did not make a firm decision, and I failed to fight those closest to me when it was necessary in order to pursue what I felt was my highest calling.
What is your calling in life? What do you stand for? What kind of man or woman do you want to be? Fight for it! Work for it! Learn about the hardships of that path, and strengthen yourself to face it. If you know you are right, never back down.
Decades after graduate school in Japan, working as an engineer, I was ordered by my supervisor not to reveal adverse material information to a customer right away. This time, I finally grew a spine and submitted my resignation rather than follow that order. As a warrior must, I fought to uphold my basic integrity, even at the potential cost of losing a steady paycheck (which I badly needed, as most working adults do). Fortunately, my supervisor offered some compromises, such as calling a line stop to buy time to resolve the issue. At his invitation I rescinded my resignation. Looking back, I should have just gone through with resigning, as the willingness to give such orders was an indicator that supervisor was not trustworthy. So even I am guilty of failing to be as honorable as a warrior should. Learn from my mistake, please.
We must fight to preserve our health. At times, the world may demand (not ask, but demand) that we keep working while injured, steadily making that injury worse and worse until we are nearly (or fully) crippled. Fight to protect your health, don’t let your employer force you to keep working and steadily cripple you – resign if you must. Your health doesn’t matter to the employer, because they can just hire someone else. But it does matter to family members who rely on you. Fight to protect your health.
…No Rest for Weary Warriors
Be prepared to fight in this life, not necessarily in terms of physical violence, but fight nonetheless. As the battle weary warrior cannot elude war forever, nor can we avoid struggles in this mortal coil. We must learn to embrace the struggle as honorable warriors in order to rise.
