Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesIkanov
I'm just going to throw out something that has personally helped me. I'm in no way BTDT, but everyone has to deal with a bit of stress now and again. One of the things I've found quite helpful is what some people might call a "Mantra". It's simply a short phrase that you mentally, or if you have to, verbally (I find murmuring under your breath works best), repeat to help you stay focused and motivated. The continuous repetition can, in many cases, help shift you to a more positive or focused state of mind. I've personally used this technique while pushing myself to do things that I didn't think I could do physically or that I thought would be more challenging than they were. It's not a magic bullet, but if it works for you it helps you keep going after you hit the wall physically or if you're just fucking tired, or whatever.
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I never knew it had a name but when I was a young soldier carrying ungodly amounts of weight on ungodly long road marches with my feet crying and my shoulders aching, I would tell myself that I would quit at the top of the next hill. At the top of the hill I would tell myself that I could let gravity take me down the hill. This usually went on until some would say that we had arrived at our destination. That and I always had an ear worm song that I would repeat in my head for many miles. The song usually sucked but had a good pace with the march. Juice Newton 'Queen of Hearts' was one such song, another was Eddie Rabbit 'Drivin My Life Away'
Eventually, your body gets so hardened that it just gets used to it. After Ranger school I could have marched around the world but my running had taken a hit. my train up for SFAS was a 6 mile ruck march before going on 2 weeks of leave. I was always in units that exceeded the standard physically, so no worries there. Mentally I told myself that if I failed I would end up as a squad leader in the 82d Windblown Diversion. The other motivator in SFAS was watching others quit, made the chow line shrink, which meant I could take my time eating while sitting at a table, not having to shovel it down my throat standing next to the trash can outside.
Motivation takes on many forms. The only one you NEED is
I WILL NOT QUIT!!!!