One of the most challenging feats I have accomplished to this point in my life was working with the second colt I ever started. The young 2 year old was easily one of the most nervous horses I have ever seen or handled - he was scared of his own shadow.
I knew he was going to be a challenge given his lack of confidence but this is where I knew I had to start - building his confidence.
I began groundwork with the 2 year old, saddle broke him, and completed his first four rides in a span of three weeks.
His confidence began to grow, but I could still tell that he was a loaded gun whenever I got on to mount him - just about anything could make him nervous and cause him to have a meltdown.
Starting a 2 year old with little-to-no confidence or prior handling was difficult. Horses have minds of their own, and working with 1100lb animals without any handling or ground manners has a level of risk and danger involved - but I love the feeling of facing a challenge, even if there is risk involved - it makes things hard.
As a man, it is important that we do things that are hard.
Doing things that are hard require a certain level of effort and commitment that you will never get from having an easy life.
It seems that as society continues to progress, the younger generations continue becoming softer and softer. To be fair, this is every generations mentality - the generation that comes after them is softer than their generation.
I believe the reason why generations get softer is, 1 - the progression of technology, and 2 - the idea of not wanting your kids to suffer and have to go through things the way you did growing up.
I will be the first one to admit that technology challenges the human psyche to a level that we are not biologically programmed to handle or fully comprehend. As technology advances, things are made easier and more convenient. But humans as a species, were not designed for things to be made easy - we are designed to work.
Think about it, we evolved for millions of years having to fight to survive, and now our lives revolve around a screen that travels with us in our pockets and purses everywhere we go.
On top of that, the speed at which technology is advancing is happening at such a fast rate for the first time in any period of recorded human history. It took us thousands of years to develop a spear that we could efficiently hunt with - now we have gone from the start of the internet, to developing self-learning technology in the last 20 years...
The idea of not wanting your offspring to suffer or have to go through things the way the previous generation did is an interesting argument. On one hand, it is admirable that people are able to recognize that they want what they think are good things for their offspring - on the other hand, humans are biologically designed to work and go through things that are hard, especially men.
Men were the hunters and gatherers. Since the beginning of our existence, men have had to fight to survive, just to protect their women and offspring. Men hunted in packs with other men, trapping wild game so that our tribes had food to eat. Everything that we did was a lesson that needed to be passed onto the next generation so that we could continue to survive.
Men build cities and fight wars. Without men doing hard shit, the human race would have zero chance of being able to survive.
So, you're telling me that men went from being pure savages, making our way to the very top of the food chain, so that we could eventually sit behind a screen, poison our bodies and minds with useless garbage, and jerk off to porn? Bullshit!
If you have genuine value that you can provide for others, then technology can be used to your benefit and the benefit of others.
As I have stated before, I believe that Newton's Third Law of every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction is a deeply embedded law of nature. Simply put, it doesn't matter what you do, whether beneficial or not, there is always going to be an equal and opposite force acting against it.
That it why it is our job as men to make sure that we continue to do things that are hard. The more we embrace the suck, the stronger we get.
Understanding that no-one is ever truly going to give a fuck about our feelings is something that we as men, need to come to grips with. Regardless of the political correctness, no-one out there is ever going to care more about your life than you. It is not our job to worry about our feelings - our job is to live out our purpose and continue to show up and do the things we have to do, regardless of how we feel.
This is why as men, becoming the strongest version of ourselves is always going to have the maximum benefit. Becoming stronger in every area of our lives is what gives us purpose - it always gives us something more to achieve. It is the only thing that will truly ever have our best interest at heart.
Going through hardship is what men are biologically designed to do. We do the things we are supposed to so that women do not.
Women have it the hardest in today's world because men have lost the ability of wanting to go through pain, so that they don't have to. Women have become more defensive as a result of men not being men.
The truth of the matter is, the more reliant we become on technology, the more it will either make us, or it will break us.
Modern technology has proven that we as humans have completely lost the ability to think for ourselves. Instead of creating our own reality, we subject our minds to the thoughts and words of others to depict our reality, and our view of the world.
As a result, men get softer, do less hard shit, and become less respected as a whole.
Our bodies can be taken from us at any time. Our finances can have the rug swept out from under our feet in the matter of an instant. But no-one can take our mind away from us, unless we allow it.
It all starts with the mind and our ability to use it to our benefit, and for the benefit of those we care for. Sharpening our minds to overcome any obstacle is a choice that we have to make. Not letting the words and actions of others depict our reality is a CHOICE.
Do hard things, forge your mind and body into a strong piece of iron that can only be sharpened by your desire to become better, to live your life to the best of your ability, and provide the best life for those who rely on you.