The Battlefield of Life!

The sound of an alarm comes with an anxiety inducing shock which is soon to be consumed by an overall depressive overtone. As the morning slowly invades with its reinforcements of reality I am left feeling as though I am here alone on the battlefield of life, equipped with a doubtful sword and a slothful shield.

This imagery is personal. However, I know that it is not unique to me. Even on my journey toward self-mastery and personal growth, I have found myself starting off my day in circumstances where I wish my consciousness would fall victim once again to my unconsciousness, hoping my battlefield will evade my reality before I once again wake. The difference now, though doubtful my sword may be, and slothful the shield that I wield, I do not stand alone in the ranks. I stand among friends, brothers and sisters in arms. We have spent many hours training, preparing, developing, and growing together. They stand ready to help me face my enemy, and I stand ready to face theirs with them. By way of stratagem, we have been given many tools which have been meticulously placed in the battlefield waiting to destroy the enemy with precision as he advances or to aid us in our resolve to win. Even now as I write with such emotion and imagery, I see my enemy wither before me.

As we analyze the details of our lives, we don't have to look very hard before we find the things that seem to hold us back from taking to the battlefield with confidence. When I express taking to the battlefield, I mean pursuing the very best version of ourselves, chasing our dream, sustaining our progress, living joyfully even when circumstances are harsh, and so forth. When I speak of the enemy, I speak of anything that stands in our way of living as the person we truly want to be. In our battlefields we all see tremendous foes, ranging from limitless opponents. Eating too much food, lacking motivation for exercise, settling for good enough, rationalizing poor behavior, justifying bad choices, living with no vision, burying dreams and passion, not using talents and gifts, blaming others, living as a victim to circumstance, allowing others to determine our happiness, trading growth for security, to just name a few. All of these things are absolutely applicable to all of us, however, when we allow these things to become the fundamentals of our way of life, causing us to shrink from the best version of ourselves, often times accompanied by the horrific expression "that's just the way I am", then we lay defeated in battle, doomed to live in the wasteland we have created.

The DIFFERENCE, is when we intentionally take to the battlefield willing to face these foes, and when defeated by them, we get back up again and keep fighting. When I speak of fighting, I am referring to our ability to recognize our shortcomings and our strengths, which takes self-awareness and curiosity. I speak of our need to seek forgiveness when we fall short (especially from ourselves) and move forward to conquer these challenges. I speak of the courage that it takes to face fear and failure. I speak of our ability to be grateful even in the least convenient circumstances. There are so many more powerful attributes that we can use on the battlefield. As we engage in battle, this looks like educating ourselves on our foes, learning their weaknesses and strengths, and striking them relentlessly until we gain our advance. If not getting enough sleep is our opponent (which is a great example because of the incredible number of us that struggle with this), then it looks like learning how to get better sleep, intentionally changing our environment and habits, unifying with others in our resolve to change, finding people who will support us and come to our aid when we are wounded, then applying what we learn consistently, piercing the heart of the enemy and standing stronger in the battlefield having been forged by adversity. As we allow these principles and attributes to have presence and substance in our lives, we can truly begin the beautiful journey towards our best selves. We will find ourselves spending more time in our oasis due to a higher frequency of victories on the battlefield.

Finally, when I speak of the tools that we can use strategically in battle, I speak of the many well organized, researched, result producing tools that brilliant minds have worked so hard to discover, produce and provide to the world, over the many years of existence of mankind. They are countless! As we embark on our growth journey we can discover how they can be applicable and beneficial to us. We can use habit trackers, alarms, calorie counters, journals, daily calendars, goal trackers, accountability partners, and so so much more! The reason I chose to speak about these powerful partners to our success last, is because they are virtually useless until we are committed to the governing principles of positive growth that instigate their need in the first place. Otherwise, we would be expending time and energy on powerful tools that only cumber and clutter our lives resulting in depression and defeat due to not gaining the promised results that they are supposed to offer.

As coaches, we stand ready to be by your side in your battlefield. We want to help you navigate the battles with your enemies, help you find solutions that will lead you to victory, bring you aid when you are down, and when you are ready, offer you tools that will sustain your progress and safeguard your growth!