I was reminded of an important concept today by my captain. The whole crew was gathered around him, and he addressed the crew in his usual manner, relaying to us that he was proud of the work we are doing, to not give up and to remember why we do what we do.

The captain pointed to a nearby aircraft carrier and told us to remember that it’s our strength as a Navy that keeps the enemy at bay. I remember looking over at the carrier and understanding that his words were true. The ship was massive, it housed a small city in her belly, held planes that could destroy cities on her deck, and it even looked large in contrast to the mountains looming behind her.

The captain told us that it is our strength that provided us with peace, that it’s the moment we show weakness is when the enemy moves in to strike like a snake from the shadows. He told us to fight every day and to win every day because that strength is needed, that discipline is necessary for the day when the enemy comes and knocks your doors down. Those who are lazy and lose their discipline when times are easy are the ones who lose battles when the war starts.

The Virtue of Strength will bring peace to your everyday life in the same way it brings peace to our nation. You should be striving to fight and win your everyday battles because when a real catastrophe comes and rears its ugly head, you don’t want that moment to be the first time in who knows how long that you’ve had to call upon your strength.

I must confess that today was the first time in a week that I worked out. I told myself that I was dedicating my time to getting another project done and that work was extra busy, but perhaps some of that reasoning was disguised as an excuse to not exercise because I had a lurking guilty feeling that popped up quite often. However, today I got straight to it after work and had a great workout.

The workout didn’t start off great though. At first, I was having a bit of a rough time, but slowly, that resistance was overcome, and I felt the familiar feeling of peace in the storm. The little voice of resistance that tempts you to quit by whispering no more, stop began to fade out of existence.

I remembered how that little voice didn’t seem to exist at all when I was working out consistently, and it wasn’t just that voice. The other small voices of insecurity, weakness and incompetence had nearly faded out of existence too, and when I stopped exercising, they slowly came back, and that workout helped me realize that was what had been happening over the course of the week and I hadn’t really noticed.

Outer strength equals inner strength equals inner and outer peace. Developing strength of the body also develops strength of the mind because they correspond. Developing strength of the body makes the everyday battles, large or small, easier to win because by exercising, we are winning a mental battle. The more battles you win, the more confidence you have going into the next one. Physically we feel good, and we aren’t being drained of mental energy battling physical maladies which leaves us with more energy to push back against adversity.

The will is strong when the body is strong, and discipline has been maintained, so when the war comes, you are ready. You don’t have time to train again when the enemy shows up at the gates, torches in hand. By that time, it’s too late.

We may not be living during times of war, but everyday life will throw challenges your way, and you never know when that challenge could very well be the one large enough to nearly swallow you whole and crush your bones.

Developing strength will make that moment more manageable and you may just be strong enough to overcome it because you trained in times of peace and didn’t allow yourself to grow soft and lazy. I thought about this after my workout and reminded myself that one reason that I work out and make my body strong is because if anyone did try to hurt me or the people I love and I wasn’t strong enough to provide protection from a threat, I would never forgive myself.

Strength is not only an asset in times of war, but it promotes peace as well. Have you ever noticed in school or at the gym or at a bar that nobody messes with the big, muscular guy? It’s the weak that get preyed upon. Their weakness is an invitation to attack.

Nobody in their right mind is going to mess with the gym rat or the well-known fighter because they know that the possibility of getting absolutely clobbered is a very real one, and it’s not worth finding out.

The reason why there aren’t wars being fought on American soil is because of our strength. Not only is our military strong, but our citizens are too. As Americans, the Second Amendment grants us the right to bear arms, and every foreign nation knows that even in the extremely unlikely event that the American military was defeated, that the hostile takeover of the United States would be impossible because the citizens are armed to the teeth.

Fight and win your everyday battles. Don’t allow your problems to fester and become so large that your lack of strength and discipline cannot overcome them when they can no longer be ignored. Having mental strength and taking care of problems as they come ensures future and present peace.

You can enjoy the moment because you don’t have to experience the looming stress of avoiding your problems and you ensure future peace by dealing with the problem now and not later. When the outer fight comes, you don’t want to be battling inner weakness at the same time. Its far easier to take on one enemy at a time than it is to take on two enemies at once.

If you desire peace, then build your inner and outer strength. Although developing strength cannot completely guarantee peace, it will make the adversity easier to overcome.

“It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war.” – Famous Chinese saying