Steadfast. Honor-bound. Tenacious. These are the words we use to describe the soldiers of the world who have fortitude and discipline permeating their veins and pounding in their hearts. But what if you could become this person? An embodiment of mettle. Someone who laughs in the face of hardship, whether it is minor, daily setbacks or those occasional disasters that try to knock you down.
The military is an institute which prides itself on excising people’s mental barriers and renewing them with a mind that is calloused to the pressures or setbacks of the world and yet open to grow from failure. To follow a military routine is to follow one of structure and discipline that allows you to soldier through anything in life.
The staple of a soldier’s diet is challenge. Doing things that are hard. Doing things that do more than get you out of your comfort zone. Doing things that take you to the deepest crevices of your mind and killing the don’ts and the nos and the cants. Whilst this sounds like a complicated thing to achieve, simple but grueling things like a run, cold showers, ice baths, rucking or combat sports can have this effect. Even waking up early, at the same time everyday, at the time you said you would, without wasting a second even thinking about that snooze button may seem like an easy task at first, but will no doubt instill discipline and accountability into a person.
A common topic in this day and age is dopamine and the recognition that scrolling for hours on social media is unhealthy. However, whilst most conversations tend to end on an agreement that this is negative and should be stopped, very rarely are the good sources of dopamine looked at and how dopamine is a tool that can be used correctly if the person wielding it has the knowledge. Getting the easy, free dopamine found in the click-mes, likes and followers triggers the primitive instinct in everyone’s mind to crave more of it. More satisfaction without the work. It’s undeniable that we as humans have evolved to find the easiest method as it increases our chances of survival. But nowadays, where you don’t normally find yourself getting chased by a woolly mammoth, many people unknowingly find themselves in need of a rewiring of their mental system. A reboot. Setting clear goals and achieving them, physical exercise and discussing mental health with a councilor to locate, target then eliminate negative thoughts (known as CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Techniques) can all bring the good kind of dopamine that promotes mental resilience and reduces anxiety by changing perception and response to intense situations.
Whether you use these techniques on the battlefield or in the deep boardrooms of your mind, aspire to be the soldier of your life, and dedicate yourself to uncovering the potential that is rooted in everyone around you, but more importantly, in your heart.
