The Importance of High Spirits (and saying it) - Lesson 6

There was a time in my career when I was going through a difficult period of change and I was under immense pressure to prove my worth during my 6 month probation. I remember one day as I was standing over a bathroom sink washing my hands with my head down and feeling like the entire world was on my shoulders, I looked up at the mirror, and without thinking I stared into my eyes and firmly said "You can do this Haitham. You will win. Everything will be alright". Now mind you, I didn't feel the slightest of confidence while I was saying it during or even right after I said it. However, looking back after my experience in National Service, I realise how crucial that moment was in helping me overcome those hurdles and ultimately surpassing what I thought was impossible at that time.

There are a few chants we learn to say in the military, and it's something that we require to shout collectively when we're being address by our superiors. One of these chants, translated of course, goes like this: our superior asks the soldiers standing attentively "How's your Spirit?", to which we always have to respond in a unified and boisterous voice "HIGH!". We could be teethering to collapse from exhaustion, we could be at the edge of our sanity from lack of sleep, and yet, whether we like it or not, our morale and spirits never went below the level of "high".

How did that make me feel? Initially, I felt like a liar, like someone who has been a victim of injustice, barred from sharing his true emotions. But what I realised as time passed was that hearing myself say it time and time again, my body and mind started to believe it, even through the most trying times. Once, we had to stand without moving while carrying a 4KG rifle with one arm for over 20 minutes after a 10 minute march, and it almost caused some of us to collapse due to the lack of circulation in our body. As my conscious began to fade, I whispered "the Morale is High", and it gave me a boost of energy I thought didn't even exist in my system.

There is an ancient Japanese saying which I believe to be a universal truth; "Do not speak bad of yourself. For the warrior within hears your words and is lessened by them". We all have doubts of our self worth, our capabilities, and our strength to overcome our odds. No matter how loud those words are in our heads, we all have it in us to speak out loud the opposite, even if we don't believe it, and prove to our inner warrior that our moral and spirits are always "high".