I was recently listening to a podcast with former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell. You might also know him as the ‘Lone Survivor’. If you haven’t seen the movie about him, I highly recommend it.
On the podcast, he was discussing different things he learned while going through thousands of hours of intense training when becoming a SEAL. He explained the way that he developed mental toughness is similar to how a blade is forged by a blacksmith.
Like blades, we all start out as raw material. We haven’t experienced any kind of pressure or any real stress. In order to turn a chunk of stone into a nice, sharp blade, it must be put into the fire and beaten repeatedly.
The same goes for us humans. Like blades, we must be repeatedly put into the fire, beaten down, and eventually forged into a nice sharp blade. If we want to grow, become better, and sharpen our minds, one of the best ways (and only ways in my opinion) is to treat ourselves like the blacksmith would a blade. We must put ourselves in the scolding heat of the fire, beat ourselves down until we find out who we really are and what we’re really made of.
As I’ve discussed before, our modern world allows us to scoot through life without ever having any real stress. So sometimes, we must manufacture stress—and the best way to do that is through physical feats. Running, lifting, yoga, or really any kind of physical movement.
Physical movement is the best way to do this because, as we all know by now, our bodies are capable of doing so much more than we can ever ask of them—it is our mind that holds us back.
Activities like running create a tangible experience where you can see and feel yourself suffering. That’s what makes it so great.
Nothing in the world compares to the feeling you get when you get to that point where you think you can’t go another step, but then you go another step. And another. And another.
What does this say about our minds? What else are we capable of? What else would we be able to accomplish, if only we allowed ourselves to do it? I encourage you to go into the fire today, beat yourself down over and over again, and see what you find out. Get out there and suffer.
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