It wasn’t in war.
It wasn’t in battle.
It isn’t in the melee of fire and destruction that most of us succumb to weakness.

We are taken apart, slowly.
Convinced to take an easier path.
Enticed by comfort.

Most of us aren’t defeated in one decisive battle.
We are defeated one  tiny, seemingly insignificant surrender at a time that chips away at who we should really be.

It isn’t that you wake up one say and decide that’s it:  I’m going to be weak.

No.  It’s an incremental process.  It chips away at our will- it chips away at our discipline.

We sleep in a little.
We miss a workout, then another.
We start to eat what we shouldn’t eat and drink .
and, without realizing it – one day, you wake up and you have become something that you never would have allowed.

Instead of strong – you are weak.

Instead of disciplined – you are disorganized and lost.
Instead of moving forward and progressing – you are moving backward and decaying.
and those things happen without you seeing them.
Without your recognizing them.

So

You have to be Vigilant
You have to be On Guard
You have to hold the line on the seemingly insignificant little things – things that shouldn’t matter- but that DO!

.

.

from “Discipline Equals Freedom” by Jocko Willink