Stay the course.
Double down.
Hold the line.
Press on.
Those are the words you console yourself with.
The bandied sayings of the grimly perseverant male.
And while they are, for some men, the right admonition… for most they merely excuse a particular form of dying.
For here’s the problem:
You love the slog.
You crave the long, endless night… the slow, tolerable gnaw.
After all, you are a man. You, like the rest of us, are hardwired for suffering.
But there are two kinds of suffering:
Suffering long and mild, leading nowhere of consequence…
And suffering swift, short, and harrowing… leading to the life you long for.
We take to the former gladly, happy to stagger down tortuous but clear paths.
But it is the brief, blind leaps that change the game entirely.
And so it is that the mass of men subject themselves to long, linear discomforts… thinking their sacrifice substantial… coming to the end of their lives dismayed that all their “suffering” did not buy the rewards they thought themselves due.
So look on your life now with an unflinching eye, while there’s still time:
Look to your long-suffering projects… the ones you’ve nursed along for years, waiting for breakthrough:
Is your harvest coming? Or are you merely plowing a dead field… too complacent, too locked-in, too chicken-shit to admit it?
Do not mistake me: NEVER quit the goal.
But show no loyalty whatsoever to any given trail… especially the ones you find but comfortably painful:
Hold tight to the summit, loosely to routes.
If you feel your life shrinking…
If your days are edged in darkness…
If your routines are slowing crushing the joy from your life…
Then stop this mad waiting.
Thrash free of your perseverant stupor.
For the sake of your future…
For the sake of your family, your wife, your children, who look to you to create their world…
Cut a new line.
Chart a new course.
Leap to difficulties that truly serve.
Before you go numb with waiting…
Before you lose all heart for action…
Like the man lost in the blizzard, every cell in his body begging for sleep…
MOVE OR DIE.
…
Bryan Ward is the founder of Third Way Man and author of the LIT Black Paper
Bryan Ward doesn’t fuck around with words. Good; some don’t mind honestly assessing our own bs…or delving in to the things we were taught as children, tearing them apart and then trying to put our lives together again using outdated, hand-me-down lessons from past generations. I need a fresh, no-nonsense perspective when evaluating – and re-evaluating – our lives to determine how our current thoughts and actions impact our current perspectives – and perceptions – of ourselves. What we believe about ourselves is what we bring to every relationship we have. Think about that the next time you open the front door and say “Honey, I’m home!” [What do you think she’s thinks when she hears the car pull up outside?
[edited] Bryan Ward doesn’t fuck around with words. Good; some don’t mind honestly assessing our own bs…or delving in to the things we were taught as children, tearing them apart and then trying to put our lives together again using outdated, hand-me-down lessons from past generations. I need a fresh, no-nonsense perspective when evaluating – and re-evaluating – my life to determine how my current thoughts and actions impact my current perspectives – and perceptions – of myself. What I believe about myself and my ability to succeed at any given moment, is what I bring to every relationship I have.