Commitment: [kuh-mit-muhnt] 1) the act of committing. 2) the state of being committed. 3) the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself. We have made a commitment to pay our bills on time. How many commitments do we make throughout the weeks, months, and years? There is a whole market that revolves around new commitments coming into and right out of the New Year. We buy gym memberships, start books, countless new diets, and commit to a better “me” so often it becomes a joke. I personally have at least 10 books that cover 10 different diets. Do the books help me lose weight? Even when I read them and decide to put the information into practice what happens?*
It has become easy to make commitments in our modern society and usually without a second thought we move on from these commitments without fulfilling them because they are easy to forget or look past. It seems until it is something that has to change or is necessary for our survival we look at these commitments quite flippantly.**
I am as guilty as anyone especially when it comes to things that are hard… i.e. working out, working on my spirituality, or eating healthy. Like in my previous post our lives have become more complicated but yet easier and I guess what I really mean is that it is simply easier to be lazy. We don’t have to stay in shape to chase food or work the fields; we do not spend time reading and in meditation because we have television and the internet, and we do not dwell on deep serious thought because it is easier and more “relaxing” to crack open that beer.
Our lives are inundated with enough worthless distractions to keep us from really bettering ourselves and achieving what we desire.
The question is what can we do to make these commitments stick? How do we go about looking at things like our health and the wellbeing of our souls as necessary for our survival? I believe that we lack something that should coincide with our commitments. I believe that something is resolve.
Resolve: [ri-zolv] to come to a definite or earnest decision about; determine (to do something): I have resolved that I shall live to the full.
Read the two definitions again one right after the other and you tell me which one sounds a tad more serious. Another definition of resolve is to break things down into elementary parts. When used in this manner the word resolve is usually followed by the word into. I think this is very interesting. I like the idea of starting to strip away some of the things about myself and resolve into what I need to be at my core.
The ideas of resolve absolutely fits into the theme of warriorship.***
So my belated challenge for this week is to try to find our resolve. Strip away some of the things that are unnecessary**** in our lives, maybe even negative and get to the meat of what is at our core and what gets us fired up. I want to show some resolve… I want to go further than just making the commitment, I want to follow through. I want to be a leader in my circle in this world. I want to have the resolve to work on my discipline. I want to be the definition of resolve.
* I tell you what happens I get fired up for about two weeks then hit some sort of monster that whispers in my ear that a pizza and a 6er would be about perfect right now. Then the ball starts rolling backwards and flat-out squashes me until I start seeing zero results and then move on to the next diet with usually the same outcome.
** At this point I am not including our commitments to wives if we have them or our children. I also believe that there should be a real commitment to work on our spiritual side that I did not address in this post but hope to in the future. I honestly believe that if you are neglecting your family and your time with God then almost no matter what you do to work on yourself will not be as successful as it could be and you will not enjoy or reap the benefits fully.
*** Remember that most of the codes that warriors lived by were centered around three principles which are honor, faithfulness, and courage. I have to believe that when you live your life with these things on the forefront of your mind in all endeavors you will have more resolve and therefore more discipline. These things are important and in the world of the warrior, which was the ultimate survival of the fittest, you have to imagine that their resolve was like steel.
**** Unnecessary doesn’t always mean negative. I think that is a misconception that many of us males believe. I think it comes down to priority. Obviously watching something on the tube or playing a round of golf is not out-and-out bad for us but if it causes us to take away from other things that might be more important than I believe we must evaluate that. Obviously that is a personal thing and is different for everyone. I am bad about wanting to do all kinds of things as in hobbies… I have a mtb, a kayak, take bjj, golf, we have a boat, and I like backpacking and camping. I am also trying to change careers and that requires me to go back to school and I am pretty much taking a full load not to mention that I am a father of three and a husband. Obviously some things have to take residence way down on the priority list as much as that pains me, maybe not forever but for right now without a doubt.