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Self-Help Advice from An Old-School Champion by Mark Hatmaker

 


The Old Man’s Premise: We are always wiser to take our self-help advice from Men & Women of action. People who have lived much, who burn the wick to the end.

Be they athletes, explorers, adventurers, frontiersmen, survivors, or “average” men and women in tough spots, their words, their insights should be weighted far heavier than anything offered from a chair, “brain-cycled” from an app, “discovered” reclining on a sofa, or hoped for with an affirmation.

That in a nutshell is the entire premise of our upcoming book, The Frontier Stoic: Life Lessons from Those Who live a Life.

We must never forget, advice offered that was not lived is false, it is untested.

Much advisory eloquence is simply well-turned prose that was never lived.

Edifying in the way of a fine poem but just as ephemeral.

Words from the trenches, acts that provided solace in real trying circumstances, well, that My Friends, that is something worthy of mulling and putting into practice.

One such exemplar…Colonel Eddie Eagan.

He won the Olympic Light-Heavyweight Gold at Antwerp in the 1920 Olympic Games.

He won the 1923 Amateur Boxing Association Heavyweight title.

He took another shot at the Olympics in 1924, this time as a heavyweight, he didn’t medal that time.

So, was he done with the Olympics?

Nope, eight years later he returns to the 1932 Olympics, this time the Winter Olympics where he paired with Billy Fiske in the team bobsled.

He picked up another Gold medal. He was the first of only 6 athletes to medal in both the Winter and Summer games.

When not competing, he was an attorney, found time to chair the New York State Athletic Commission and was a member of the famed Adventurer’s Club of New York.

In 1944 he was asked by Dale Carnegie if he had a method for dealing with worry.

He provided the following response.

“I go to the gym to punch the bag or take a hike outdoors. When I find myself worrying and mentally going around in the circles like a camel turning a water wheel in Egypt, a good physical workout helps me to chase those “blues” away. Maybe running or a long hike in the country, or maybe 1/2 hour of bag punching or squash tennis at the gymnasium. Whichever it is, physical exercise clears my mental outlook. On the weekend I do a lot of physical sports, such as a run around the golf course, a game of paddle tennis, or a ski weekend in the Adirondacks. By my becoming physically tired, my mind gets arrested from legal problems, so that when I return to them, my mind has a new zest and power.

“Quite often in New York, where I work, there's a chance for me to spend an hour at the Yale Club gym. No man can worry while he's playing squash tennis or skiing. He's too busy to worry. The large mental mountains of trouble become minute mole hills that new thoughts and acts quickly smooth down.

“I find the best antidote for worry is exercise. Use your muscles more and your brain less when you are worried, and you will be surprised at the results. It works that way with me worrying goes when exercise begins.”

I wager that Colonel Eagan has offered us a goldmine remedy.

May it serve!

Resources for Livin’ the Warrior Life

The Black Box Store

https://www.extremeselfprotection.com/

The Indigenous Ability Blog

https://indigenousability.blogspot.com/

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast

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