We are all capable of so much more than we know.
Last night I watched the movie Lone Survivor for the first time. This is the big screen depiction of a Navy SEAL mission in Afghanastan that went wrong. The SEALs are legendary for the training they go through and for the tests of will and endurance necessary to qualify to become one.
I don’t know alot about it, but I know that to be a SEAL, you aren’t just elite, you are the elite of the elite.
The movie does a good job a giving you a glimpse into the training, and then it does an even better job at depicting the result of the training. These men have to go way way way beyond what they might choose to endure in any normal aspect of life. If they don’t, they are out. In one test, they literally have to stay under water until they drown, and then they are resucitated. Mind-blowing!
So why might that embarrass me?
Well, I’m not trying to be a SEAL, so its not about me physically enduring what they have to endure. Its the mental part. The mental endurance, the strength of spirit is the most awesome thing. The body will do what you will it to do until it simply cannot function anymore. But the signals the body sends to your mind about when you should quit, are way before the body actually cannot go on. This is where the will and the endurance comes in.
You only grow in life by pushing through things that are not comfortable.
I consistently struggle with mental endurance in tests of will that are laughable when I think about what I might be capable of. When I think about what I consider hard, it is embarrassing. Sure, I am not dealing with a true survival sense. I’m not going to die if I don’t push through. BUT, I am going to be less than God intended me to be. You only grow in life by pushing through things that are not comfortable. There is no growth from comfort. Comfort has the opposite effect. It softens us. It wears down our will. It atrophies our mental endurance muscles as much as not moving our body atrophies our physical muscles.
The next time you feel like giving up, like you can’t go forward, remember, that’s a lie you are telling yourself. This is telling you that you aren’t even scratching the surface of your potential. Push through, you will get better from it, you will BE better for it, and you will move towards what it takes to become elite in your pursuit.
