[Warrior Series] Why You Should Want To Be A Warrior & Where to start.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and we should look to imitate those who have held up and protected society for ages.
Knights.
Spartans.
Samurai.
Zandes.
Vikings.
Praetorians.
It doesn’t matter what your ethnic origins are, everyone has a connection to a society in which there was a warrior class. Warriors are the protectors and bastions of which strong and thriving civilizations are built. In our traditional mindset, we view the warriors as an organized fighting force which is true BUT….. What happens to a society when the warrior class falls to a stronger warrior class or some unforeseen adversity?
"Guess we’ll just go die then.”
Those parameters are not acceptable. Some of the most successful societies were known for a fierce connection to their warrior class even amongst the general populace. This meant that you had average citizens in peak condition, known to lay down their life for country if need be, and willing to go out with a blaze of glory at a moment’s notice.
In my honest opinion, this level of strength is missing from the latest generations of Americans and this deficiency is BLARING. You, yes you sitting on the couch reading this on your phone, tablet, or computer, YOU NEED TO BECOME A WARRIOR.
There has always been the old saying that no one has invaded America because of the fact that behind every blade of grass there is a gun. That is still true (To a startlingly dwindling degree) but the issue is that many Americans wielding those guns aren’t the type of people that you’d fear in a 1 on 1 if your life came down to it.
Moreso, many Americans don’t train their body or their skills with weapons and have lost the urgency to do so that once was so prevalent in our ancestors. Perhaps is the decadence that has made us weak. The fact that we no longer really need to hunt, kill, sacrifice, and build with our bare hands has allowed the average American to become very sloppy, despite having resources at our hands that would allow us to legitimately transcend physiological limits our forefathers would only dream about.
Even kids these days are becoming increasingly more pathetic physically, mentally, and emotionally. It really is time that we start training ourselves and our offspring as warriors did.
The conqueror has literally been bred out of us by coddling parents & a lack of adversity which has led to us all losing that edge that would usually drive men to become proficient in combat, physicality, and mental fortitude that was indicative of warrior societies in the past. We need to cultivate that by testing our own limits again. Once those limits are tested, we must then understand what it takes to break through those limits.
<Spoiler Alert> Its a healthy dose of discomfort in all the right places. <Spoiler Alert>
Like many things in life the key to growth is adaptation to adversity and a core component to eliciting such adaptation is discomfort. Everyone always tells you “Get out of your comfort zone.” and its true. You can’t make any sort of progress if your body and mind don’t have a need to grow to overcome a situation you find yourself in. This is a basic physiological tenet. Evolution does not occur without need so we NEED to start cultivating some discomfort to really see growth. Because I don’t want to meander around this subject without providing any sort of tangible content for you to take away I’ll leave you with these easy steps to begin shaking things up for yourself and your family in ways that can get you started on your journey to become warriors:
1.) Make a list of very ambitious goals that you would like to achieve. These goals can be small or large, but the key component to making this work is that the goals must require a radical shift in your current processes to achieve. The point isn’t to achieve the goal though but to be able to change on a dime and place yourself in a situation outside of your usual routines that will require the adaptation that you’re not used to. Remember, this doesn’t work unless you do.
2.) Set hard rules and standards for yourself and your children and punish with makeup work for falling short of those rules. This is possibly the most difficult one for people because it requires an extreme degree of self-governance but that’s exactly the point. If you want to have a kingdom worthy of defending you must first become a king that can live by the very principles he governs by. Having the integrity to not be hypocritical in making a rule and then breaking it when you see fit takes extreme strength of character and if you aren’t there yet, practicing this will surely get you there.
If you’re supposed to wake up at 4AM every morning to go on a morning run and you oversleep, then be sure to wake up at 3:30AM the next morning to make up the missed time. This will tie in to step 1, but doing so will begin to pay dividends when it comes to attacking a goal aggressively which will build an indomitable will to never give up, even if you let yourself down one day. Wars are comprised of many battles. Not every battle will be won but you can overcome your losses by working even harder to prevent future ones.
3.) Challenge yourself in EVERYTHING you do. Yes, this may seem crazy or asinine, but you need to begin challenging yourself to a competition. Being fiercely competitive is a trait that many warriors have. It allowed them to push their abilities to new heights when they last believed they had hit a peak. We need to be able to challenge ourselves without feeling ridiculous about it rather than just going through the motions.
If your morning walk to the office takes 23 minutes, challenge yourself to get there in 21 the next day, then 19, then 17. Don’t be afraid to make the challenges extra hard if you really feel like being sadomasochistic. The point is that you have to start putting yourself in situations where you can force growth in your own skillsets. If you’re the best at what you do, then why be satisfied? Push yourself even harder to find and understand ways you can become an even better version of yourself.
Doubly, making the competition with yourself builds a level of intrinsic control which is necessary to developing mental fortitude to dig yourself out of even your toughest situations when you have no one to lean on. (Promise, that day will come.) This method can easily be applied to children & it should be as this is one of the most important skills kids can learn to get a headstart and sometimes permanent advantage over their peers.
Well, because its late whilst I’m typing this and I’ll be taking my wife to the gym early in the AM to work out, I won’t continue to go on much further. Keep in mind, this is just the beginning of the “Warrior Series” of posts I do. I’m hoping we can delve deeper into this topic and begin to rebuild a strong society of Warrior Philosophers that can start to usher us into a new golden age as a society. Until then folks….
Flex gonna give to ya! Great piece, worth the read. Looking forward to future pieces. Your net of influence is growing and I couldn't be happier for you.