I Have Been

I have a friend who spent 15 years in Special Operations. That was ten years ago, and he has been searching for himself ever since, with many ups and downs along the way, some very painful. It pains me to see him like that, I know how that feels, since I have been there, back when I got out of my service, and I understand. You were at the top of your game, with a purpose and the physical stamina and capabilities to match it.

It took me many years to realize that having been and being are different things. You move forward or you stagnate.

When I was younger, my body and my mind were everything they could have been. I have been a soldier, high speed and low drag. I have been a mountain climber, reaching incredible places where very few have been. I have been a skydiver, jumping with friends and experiencing freedom. I have been a CrossFitter, with a physical capability superior to what I had in the military or while climbing. I have taken part in incredible projects with a team many years ago, projects that put me in crazy places around the world, doing work that at times felt like magic.

I have been.

But I am no longer "that". I am something else now, and that something else is informed by what I have been. It built the purpose and capability I have today. Do I wish I were still those things? Hell yes, every day, but I'm older and wiser, in part because of what I have been. The things I do today are my purpose and focus, and I approach them with the same intensity I brought to everything else I have done, because I have been there and because I know that you fail, you get up, and you fail again, until eventually you get it.

So I'm working with my friend to get him there. I'm not better than he is, but I learned, and I want to spare him the pain that taught me. Or maybe I need to let him go through it... Still, I can't watch him suffer, so I will try.

Mark Twight wrote,

"Seize whatever opportunity comes your way because there will be nothing worse than knowing you could have but didn't, that now you can't, and you're still alive to wish you had."

Yes! But opportunity often comes from the reality you create. Our conditioning shapes our reality, so set your chances right. Work, practice, get ready.

Having been and no longer being doesn't mean the end, I think it's the opposite, it means "hell, what's next, bring it!"