From the earliest days of my enlisting into the United States Army, I have always embraced the call to virtue. The moral foundation of our Army is solidified in our highly-coveted, Seven Army Values.
Each soldier is called upon to embody these values as the newfound standard to live by upon entering our ranks. We embrace and practice them to maintain good order and discipline. Especially, in the toughest of times, we learn to practice these virtues with actions, with words like “roger” and “hooah,” and we carry on.
But truth be told, tough times reveal true character. Virtue sounds pleasant, until we are placed into a desperate situation and then we become self-focused instead of virtuous towards others — that is the result of our imperfection. We all have issues and problems that we each wrestle over each day. Yet, we will do everything possible to refrain from exposing our inner conflicts or our vulnerabilities. As we hide ourselves, we resist against our inner desire to connect with others through healthy community. We hope to find communities that allow us to find others who would support us, but often these seem to only be found with pretense and hiding our vices to survive.
As a result, our deepest dark secrets, our joys and our sorrow are suppressed by a social conformity to appear normal. I mean after all, who wants their dirty laundry being aired out in public? No one! As a result, we are left to face our inner monsters, vice, and dark secrets alone, because we are afraid of the cost of our transparency and vulnerability. What would people think of us, if they really knew the inner struggles of our lives?
First, let me tell you that you are not alone. We all have baggage. Some of this baggage comes from our story, our upbringing, or our culture. We are all different, but each of us have our own set of struggles. If you are dealing with a challenge in your life because of a bad experience, trauma, abuse, self-induce pain, or stuck with making bad choices or practicing bad behavior, there is still hope. First, we must acknowledge that we have an issue. Identify the issue and the root cause of this issue. Ask yourself: Is this issue causing shame? Am I hiding it? Who can I share this issue with? If I don’t get help with this issue, how will this impact me, my family and friends? Is it even possible to change my behavior without someone’s support, why haven’t I been able to change it? Who can help me with this issue?
For me, my greatest resource is my spirituality. I did not say religion, frankly, because I’m not religious. I believe that every person needs a resource to sustain and support their spirit and soul. Every day, we feed our soul every day through the choices we make. As a Christian, I choose to feed my soul by using the word of God. The word of God serves as the moral compass to guide my thinking, my words, and my actions. I guard against all thing negative that I know can influence and impact my emotions and feelings. I also use prayer as a tool when I’m happy, sad, and specifically when dealing with negative influences and energy in my surrounding.
My inner peace and strengths come from God, and with the help of my family, I continue to be spiritually resilient and strong. So I encourage and challenge everyone who is reading this article to reflect on your own spirituality and identify resources by which you feed and protect your soul. What do you have in your spiritual arsenal to guard against negativity, lies, and deceits? What resources do you have that can encourage with spiritual virtues of love, praise and gratitude?
Lastly, surround yourself with positive people who always will hold you accountable. We all need people in our lives who are unafraid to tell us the truth about ourselves. As military members, we also have the benefit of having countless professionals who care, such as our behavioral health professionals, our Chaplains and our spiritual leaders. In the end, we are all in this incredible Army together…and being there for each other is what our virtues are all about.