Forged in Fire

Do it. Before its too Late.

^{Photo by harutmovsisyan, Pixabay}

It’s been said that self-absorption can and will ruin the very thing that it celebrates. This of course means that your ego, or inflated sense of superiority, can quickly become the antecedent of disaster. 

As author Ryan Holiday so simply yet brilliantly titled his New York Times Best Selling book: ‘Ego is the Enemy.”

It really is, if you think about it. It will degrade all of the good qualities within a person, and tear down any reputation that has been built up. It will cloud one’s sense of morality and inhibit their ability to grow and learn as a human being.

“It is impossible to learn what one thinks they already know” Epictetus, the great Stoic Philosopher once quoted. 

I wrote on this very idea, in my most recent blog post – that we are not held prisoner to who we are, and what we believe in this very moment. To which, you might ask “But, what if I am?” 

What if you are? Good question. What if you do feel completely beholden to the place in which you currently find yourself? The lifestyle you live, the things that you believe in and fight for – what if you see absolutely no fault in any of it?

What if you can’t even begin to consider another’s point of view? Or a lifestyle outside of that of your own? 

There is, unfortunately, a good chance that ego has a hold of you. 

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Wrecked by my Ego

I spent years as the big fish in a little pond. I was on top of the world, until I wasn’t.

At 18 years old, I moved from a town of 2,000 residents, to a University with a student population north of 35,000. 

Some call it culture shock. I call it a hard reset.

The hard reset, however, was optional. I was faced with two options: 

1. Allow myself to be humbled.
2. Go back to comfort.

Most people choose the latter over the former. Out of convenience, of course. 

It would have been easy to tuck my tail and run. To avoid the long road laid out in front of me. To ignore the fact that I wasn’t what I thought I was. To face the false sense of reality that my ego had created.

I chose to continue on, and to acknowledge my inflated ego. 

Over the course of four years, through many life altering events, lonely days and lonelier nights, long hours working to get by, and studying to earn a degree that I’d promised myself I would attain – any sense of self-absorption was long gone. 

I allowed myself to become a student after a lifetime of believing I had all the answers. With my nose to the grindstone, I did whatever it took to make it through to the other side. 

The ego aiming to wreck my life? I chose to shut it down, before it was too late.

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It Doesn’t Stay Away

Steering clear of an inflated ego isn’t an easy task, though it is extremely rewarding. 

Of the many intangible reasons behind why curbing your ego can be so tricky, one tangible reason is simply this: it doesn’t just “stay put.” Your ego won’t just remain at bay for the remainder of time.

Of course, it would be amazing if it did! But, it doesn’t, and it never will.

It will creep back into your life, and try to drag you down. It will find any way possible to make its presence known.

Insert: doing hard things, consistently. 

This, upon many others, is a primary influence on my love for endurance sports. 

There is no room for ego when you’re running 20 miles on a Saturday morning, or when your toenails are falling off. Getting up when that 3:30 am alarm clock sounds, and putting in the work that your mind is telling you not to do – good way to dampen that ego.

To challenge yourself, and to experience failure. To set lofty goals, and to come up just short. To push yourself further than you’ve ever been. Become a student in every facet of your existence. 

These aren’t options, but necessities, if a life free of an inflated ego is on your radar.

Do these things, and rid yourself of an ego that is inevitably weighing you down. 

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