How Strong Are You?
There is a war waging within you..
The evening was perfect.
The night sky looked like diamonds scattered along a dark blanket.
It was on this night a Cherokee elder took his grandson by the shoulder and told him a story.
A story of a war that wages constantly within man’s heart.
He said,
“Within man, are two wolves in a constant war for control. One wolf represents the evil in man. His green, anger, hatred and resentment. The other, represents the good in man. His love, passion, humility and faith.”
The grandson looks upward to his grandfather’s weather face, and with anticipation in his voice, he asks, “Who win the war?”
The grandfather looks down slowly towards his grandson and simply responds,
“Whichever one you feed the most.”
Right this very moment, we’re at war with ourselves. We constantly attack ourselves with thoughts of what could have been, if we could have done this different, etc.
But our biggest war within has very little to do with good and evil, in my humble opinion.
Our biggest war deals with the most rewarding and damaging thing we, as individuals, can face in this life.
Our biggest war is between strength and fear.
Let’s take a ride deeper into the tale of this tape.
FEAR is what you make it.
Surely we can all count, using every digit, how many times we’ve found ourselves stifled by the crippling emotion we call fear.
But what IS fear? What are YOU afraid of? And why would such a thing exist in the first place?
Let me tell you exactly what fear is,
- F-False
- E-Evidence
- A-Appearing
- R-Real
Fear is an illusion, a magic trick our minds play on us based solely on a combination of what we want most and what the worst possible scenario would be.
And fear, much like the wolf, grows stronger and stronger the more it’s fed. Who’s feeding it? Oh, let me count the ways!
- Shitty friends who tell you that you can’t do something
- Horrible parents who tell you that you’re stupid for following that particular dream
- Exes that broke you down as much as possible.
- Society that has set supposed “Unreal Expectations” for you.
- The biggest culprit of them all.
This is how the wolf is fed and, every time it eats, it gets bigger and bigger and it captivates you before you have a chance to move. You’re stuck where you’ve been since that wolf has started to eat.
But, then something happens.
Something inside of you starts to realize the “Smoke and Mirror” trick and eventually, you begin to get brave.
You feel that?
The other wolf woke up
That’s strength.
How strong are you?
What IS strength? More appropriately, what do YOU think strength is?
Is strength having the ability to lift 500lbs off the ground?
Is strength looking directly into the flames of difficulty and running in head first?
Is strength looking at a horrible situation and doing the right thing, even if it serves you no reward other than knowing you did the right thing?
The answer is D, all the above.
- Physical Strength – Obviously the ability to perform amazing feats using just your body. This, in my opinion, is the easiest to achieve.
- Mental Strength – Knowing the journey ahead is going to be difficult, yet rushing in regardless of what possibilities await you
- Emotional Strength – Being the bigger person in a time when there are no more super heroes around to save people. Becoming the superhero. This, in my opinion, is the most difficult.
Training in a gym, doing CrossFit or hiring a personal trainer can be done by anyone with enough time and money but, in comparison, is that really strength? Or is that show?
Do we train to look good naked? Or are we training to help someone when they really need it or for life in general?
Now, while it is awesome to be strong and look good naked, does that make you a strong individual?
No, no it doesn’t.
Could you close your eyes, cover your ears and put your hand inside a mystery box? Think about that for a minute.
Some people will chalk that up to straight stupidity. Others will call it pure strength, as you have no clue what you may or may not be sticking your hand in.
Spiders, scorpions, fire ants, or it could be what it probably is ...
Nothing
Overthinking kills more progress and feeds more fear than anything else we experience.
How many of us can honestly say we do the right thing when there’s nothing to be earned or received outside of the gratitude of the person or people you’ve helped?
Unfortunately, this is normal. This is a HUGE problem in our society today.
No one wants to do the right thing. Why?
Because there’s no monetary or physical reward for it.
People just walk by, pay no attention, turn a blind eye, ignore and sweep everything under the rug now. They leave it up to someone else to do it.
Fear has killed the majority of super heroes in our generation. This is why this is the most difficult form on strength to obtain,
Because, in essence, you’re alone and vulnerable when putting others in front of yourself.
And that, to me, is the strongest form we can have as human beings.
Who wins?
The reality of your war is that neither wins. As you will always come into contact with fear, and strength will always be tested and preserved.
But strength and fear go hand in hand in life.
As strength is developed from conquering our fears. Our confidence increases with every small victory.
We develop ourselves and, before we know it, fear is no longer a huge factor for us.
Life changes when you realize you’re not made of glass.
And, as our life changes, new fears slowly develop and they turn into obstacles that we MUST overcome to progress through our individual battles in everyday life.
And our armor is tested every time.
Never let, what isn’t real, stop you from obtaining what is real.
I’ll leave you with this,
Your strength was fear before it became your armor.
Article written by Sean Burton
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