David Goggins Embraced the Suck to Become Great
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/02/27
In spite of overcoming fat shaming as a social phenomenon, obesity as a medical condition brought by genetics and largely lifestyle in his case, and the contagion of racism against African Americans in the United States, David Goggins chose to overcome it.
Insofar as I can tell by observation, he is a broken person in the opposite direction of an individual who consumes, sits on a couch, causes no problems, but creates no solutions. If there are any problems, then a bad example is one.
However, at the same time, we can see something unique or distinct with Goggins in the commitment to a purpose grounded on the sense of an absolute nothing. A concept first introduced by Dr. Christian Sorensen to me. Dr. Sam Vaknin picked up a similar idea in his nothingness series.
As Goggins notes astutely, the bedrock is there when you come to the point of nothing left for you. You have nothing; you have no one except you. It becomes a moment of “me” in neither ennui nor darkness. It is more of a sense of “welp, this is it.”
That is not even a form of bravery or courage. Merely an acceptance of what is presented before one’s consciousness, the direct impressions of the world. A centred experience of a now. The mind seems like action without movement. Language is a vessel for conveying this.
Immediately, you must act or feel compelled to do so. David Goggins’s wisdom comes from accepting this ground state and then building up from it or rebuilding from it. He is a case study of someone, certainly, in non-normal circumstances by being born in America and having the surreal experience of someone born with black skin.
His chief value is characterization in clear, colloquial language. He speaks the way Richard Pryor spoke, which is how every ordinary person speaks. However, he achieves extraordinary things. They are achievements only within a frame of a culture rewarding them.
He becomes a Navy Seal. He becomes an Army Ranger. He is an ultramarathon runner. It comes from building on this foundation of nothingness. He used to spray cockroaches. He was overweight. He was an ordinary guy. He knows mediocrity.
His achievements become validated through genuinely being broken, while the adaptation from this comes with social rewards. He is he’s a tragic hero. His clear expression of taking on these burdens and moving forward while having no one, in the end: “Embrace the suck.”
I love that. I like imbibing the bad nature of the negative parts of life and integrating them fully. It sucks. Embrace that suck now; that is, that’s the rest of your life. You will achieve more in the social rules setup, as he has, but it will suck. It will suck so bad to where you may become great as him.
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
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