Jan 21, 2022
Do hard things
The older I get, the further I get away from the day-to-day life in the SEAL teams, the clearer I become on a great many things.
The older I get the clearer I see the importance of being a father, of staying alive and being attentive to my family.
The older I get the easier my reactions are to politics and threats of the end of the world and existential crisis like global warming trends trailing an ice age.
Yet something is not being made clear to our society and our youth today and social media is spanking the true hardness out of youth. So, sit back and listen and watch or read what I am going to share. If this pisses you off, good? If this inspires you to act, even better?
Let me first just come out and say it, 90% of the people listening to this have No fucking idea what Hard is. You lead a protected life and the real predators are all but killed off. And you can go to a store and buy food or even steel it. You don’t understand hard.
Let me tell you some truths:
Marriage is hard
Divorce is hard avoiding either is weak
Being fat is really fucking hard getting fit is hard as hell avoiding both is weak
Losing a job and having debt is hard
having financial discipline is really hard. Taking a govt hand out is weak
Speaking plainly and clear is harder than you think
Deciding not to speak is also hard
Blaming others for speaking out is weak
Being straight is hard being gay is really hard Not having intimacy at all is weak
Making and keeping a promise is hard quitting is extremely hard on your life
Never committing is weak
Learning to fight and face violence is hard not learning to protect your self is rude and hard giving up the right to protect yourself is weak
Being a republican is hard being a democrat is hard
Not taking a side is weak
School is hard
not going to school is hard
Expecting a job because someone else is successful is weak
Being born male is hard being born female is hard
Not accepting either is weak
Waking up early because you want to is hard
Waking up early because you have to is hard
Hitting the snooze 5 times is weak
Training for an ultra marathon is very hard
Not training for anything is even harder on your body
Drinking beer watching a football game is weak
Being injured and watching others progress is hard
Helping others through injury is very hard
Having never been injured or helped another is weak
Being a dad is hard
Being a mom is hard
Not trying to raise a family at all is weak
Killing is very hard
Watching someone be killed is hard
Never facing down an enemy at all is weak
If you are on the weak side, hard will find you and you will not be ready.
As I close and trust me I could go on for days about the weak times I see and the hard men and challenges I have witnessed, yet let me say the hardest thing you will ever have to encounter is starting over with nothing.
I wish everyone that level of hardness. I wish you the hardness it takes to start over at the bottom with nothing.