Battle Fatigue & Pessimism as Signal for Weak Warriorship by Mark Hatmaker

 

First, an observation from General George C. Marshall quoted by Bernard Loeftke in his volume, From Warrior to Healer.

“I saw about twenty-seven of twenty-nine divisions in battle. There were more failures, more crushed careers of officers of considerable rank, which grew out of physical exhaustion more than any other one cause. One acquired judgment with the years but lost the resiliency of tendons and muscles. Leadership in the field depends to an important extent on one’s legs, stomach, nervous system, and on one’s ability to withstand hardships and lack of sleep and still be disposed energetically and aggressively to command men on the battlefield. In World War I, many men had to be relieved because their spirit, their tenacity of purpose, their power of leadership over tired men—was broke through physical fatigue. They became pessimistic.”

The easy lesson gleaned from the above is that, while we may not suffer the demands of commanding an army, we are the generals of our own minds, the commanders of our own efforts.

If we allow ourselves to become physically exhausted, our physical performance plummets in a like sense.

If we allow ourselves to be expended in mental and spiritual demands our problem-solving ability, our peer-to-peer interaction likely devolves to the warned of pessimism in the General’s opening observation.

Soldiers must engage in battle, that is the nature of the gig.

Battle Fatigue is a real and concrete manifestation of exposing the frail human organism to long-term stressors.

Now, in our far less stressful engagements of day-to-day life we can experience our own fatigues. Small skirmishes, trite annoyances, petty grievances take their toll.

There is a school of psychological thought that sees “will,” “willpower,” “grit” as a finite resource. One that is at its peak when we are fresh, and wanes as physical or mental fatigue sets in.

With will being a finite resource, just as say, glycogen as a biological fuel, we are wise to husband our energies to apply them towards goals, efforts, adventures that suit the needs of the self.

Expending our energy on an enterprise that is unwinnable, or perhaps, simply a battle that does not need to be fought ensures that we now have less “willpower” gas in the tank to tackle our own self-chosen battlefields of training goals, dietary discipline, commitment to being a good spouse, what have you.

In essence, a “hard day” at the office, saps a bit of that “can do” we resolved for being in the gym tonight and picking up that bouquet on the way home.

Finite Resources in War or Everyday Life Should Be Spent Well and Wisely

Will-power, like glycogen, can be replenished.

It can be refreshed with a little R&R.

But…what is one who is in the midst of to do when no R&R is on the horizon?

And, what might be done to extend the ability to withstand these petty quotidian “battle” fatigues and resist the weakness of pessimism?

In our non-soldierly cases, we have the option to not waste efforts on unneeded battles. Save that energy for the battles of your own making, of your own choosing.

Examples…

·        If I “war” for another man’s ambitions, another individual’s cause be that a political point or an opportunity to have my two-cents heard on outrage du jour, I have expended willful energy that might have gone into picking up that bouquet, fighting another round or two in the gym.

·        If I pen/key/voice pessimism I am exhibiting the very weakness that General Marshall and many other like-minded commanders view as evidence of weakness, signs of battle-fatigue.

·        But… our non-soldier’s pessimism, our jaundiced view has no valorous excuse of a true combat to account for our malady. We have simply succumbed to pessimism because of, perhaps a news-cycle. How weak might our pessimism be viewed side-by-side with a soldier suffering the rigors of the Battle of Verdun.

We color the world through the hue of our own eyes.

“Clothes seem to warm us, but not by throwing off heat themselves; for in itself every garment is cold…Rather the clothes that wrap us keep in the heat that is thrown off by the body and don’t allow it to be dissipated…a happy and cheerful life does not come from without. On the contrary, a man adds to pleasure and gratification to the things that surround him, his temperament, being as it were, the source of his feelings.”—Plutarch

·        General Marshall agrees with Plutarch. Once a commander has succumbed to the weakness of pessimism, he needs to be replaced.

·        In our own lives, we are mighty hard to replace.

·        Instead, if we have an eye on strength over weakness, we should strive to replace poor performing pessimistic behaviors and practices with those that foster strength for our self-chosen battle-plans.

And for those who think, “I can’t help being pessimistic, Mark, it’s the world that is wrong, not me.”

One—If anyone has a “right” to be pessimistic, I’d wager it is those who suffer in the midst of trench warfare and other like godawful true combat conditions. If, pessimism is considered a deficit in that environment, then I wager our succumbing to weak pessimism of the “Can you believe what they are doing now?” variety kind is viewed as childishness to the nth.

Two—What is inside will come out under a squeeze, will manifest under a stressor.

Three-If we squeeze/stress an orange, we get orange juice.

Four—If we squeeze/stress an individual, we may get good humor, resilience, tenacity, or we may get finger-pointing, excuses, criticism, and pessimism.

Five—What we see expressed under the squeeze is merely what was/is inside.

To us all being as sweet as freshly squeezed orange juice!

[Excerpted from The Frontier Stoic: Life Lessons from Those who Lived a Life. For more such maundering, allying with support cadre, and weekly Valor-Honor Assignments see The Society for Savage Gentlemen & Feral Ladies. https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/2021/05/pipelines-thin-veneers-half-well.html]