I chose to read the book Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins. This book is about toughening your mind, and facing everyday tasks that are difficult with a sense of perseverance, tenacity, and duty. In this chapter, David Goggins was going through ‘Hell Week’ in Navy SEALS training, which is a 130 hour week, where you get no sleep, and you must continuously perform the exercises and regimens that the instructors order you to do. This was Goggins’ third and final Hell Week, and if he did not meet the standards, he would never achieve his dream of becoming a Navy SEAL. He had also broken both of his feet in the previous week, regardless, he still had to complete a 40 minute run at 3:30 A.M each morning, so he decided to tape up his feet in tube socks, and perform the run with determination. This was his mental dialogue as he was completing the run:
‘ “The only way to guarantee failure is to quit right now!” I was talking to myself now. Silently screaming over the din of anguish that was crushing my mind and soul… I imagined the feeling I would have if I could actually pull this off. If I could endure the pain required to complete this mission. That brought me another half mile before more pain rained down and swirled within me like a typhoon. “People have a hard time going through BUD/S healthy, and you’re going through it on broken legs! Who else would think of this?” I asked. “Who else would be able to run even one minute on a broken leg, let alone two? Only Goggins! You are twenty minutes in the business Goggins! You are a machine! Each step you run from now will only make you harder!” … at the forty minute mark something remarkable happened. The pain receded to low tide. The tape had loosened so it wasn’t cutting into my skin, and my muscles and bones were warm enough to take some pounding.’
This quote goes to show the importance of grit and determination, and that pain is only temporary, and if you face it with strength and perseverance, you can enjoy the fruits of it afterwards, and it will give you the mental toughness to perform harder tasks in the future. In this case, David Goggins’ goal was to become a Navy SEAL, and the only way to do that was to deal with pure agony and torture. In the end, David achieved his goal and went on to become a renowned triathlete, pull-up world record breaker, and ultramarathoner. We think of pain as this uncomfortable, worthless feeling, but it might just be the key to unlocking your potential and becoming the best that you can be.