Need Some Motivation? Want to be Inspired? 3 Awesome Stories of Courage and Perseverance to Get You PUMPED!

0:00 Hey, brothers, my courageous fighting brothers. Face your fears and follow me. We are the sons of the UMP. Welcome to the Unapologetic Man Podcast. The only podcast that's all about self-improvement, confidence, success, women, and being a man without making any apologies for it. What is up, you champions? Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Uniform Mike Papa, The Unapologetic Man Podcast. And today, boys, I have an awesome one for you. I am going to tell you three super inspiring stories, stories of perseverance, and frankly, stories that are just damn interesting to get you motivated, to get you inspired, to get you pumped up, because I know sometimes we need that extra bit of energy to keep us going towards our goals.

0:58 And you're obviously a go-getter, so I'm going to deliver the goods today. Before I jump into the content, I hope you guys had a great 4th of July weekend. I'm going to have my podcast editor, Liam, pop a picture of me on 4th of July. It's a pretty funny outfit, so if you're watching on video, that's what I look like, man. Well, I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. For you guys listening in different countries, you're like, what the fuck is this guy talking about?

1:25 But if you're American, you know exactly what I'm talking about, so it was a good time. 4th of July is one of my all-time favorite holidays, so I hope you, too, had a great time. All right, boys, without further ado, let's jump into the content. So the first story I'm going to tell you is about the Spartan Aristodemus. You guys have probably seen the movie 300, which is about the Battle of Thermopylae, where the Persians were coming into Greece and threatening to take over Greece as well as Spartan proper.

1:53 So obviously, the Spartans battled up. They got 300 of them because they couldn't get a full outfit of warriors because it was a religious time where they weren't supposed to fight. So they put 300 guys up there to basically protect the narrow pass at Thermopylae, and one of the warriors was named Aristodemus. Now, Aristodemus had a son, and all the guys who went with the 300 warriors had to have sons. So he was a father, and he went up there with his brothers. Well, what's interesting, and this is actually reported in modern-day warfare as well, is that during the battle, Aristodemus got what's called battle blindness.

2:31 Think of it this way. You are seeing so many atrocities. You are seeing such crazy, deprived, insane shit that your body literally shuts down your ability to see. So he's in the phalanx, and he's fighting, and he goes blind. Well, obviously, when you're blind, you really can't be that effective, right? Even as much as they trained, and they actually used to train in the dark, in the phalanx, you still can't see, so you can't really be that effective. So he was ordered to go back behind the lines, and then eventually he was ordered back to Sparta with his servant who brought him back to Sparta, and he was blind.

3:08 Well, it turned out that he was the only survivor of the battle of Thermopylae. So when he got back to Sparta, everybody shamed him. They made him shave off half his beard, and they called him the trembler. So here's this guy who trained his entire life to be a Spartan. He goes with the rest of his brothers, wanting to die at Thermopylae with this king Leonidas, as well as all his other brothers that he grew up with. But because of battle blindness, he was sent back to Sparta, and he was shamed.

3:36 Half his beard was shaved off, he was thrown out of the city, and he was basically labeled a coward. Well, obviously, this didn't sit too well with the dude who trained his entire life to be with his brothers in the phalanx to fight as a fucking Spartan. So several years later, the Persians created a new contingent of men, hundreds of thousands of men, and historians actually say it was millions of men, to go fight against the Greeks at the Battle of Platae. I think that's the way you pronounce it.

4:06 So because the Spartans needed every single warrior they can muster, they let Aristodemus join them. So as the story goes, the Battle of Platae is unfolding, and Aristodemus was at the far right side of the phalanx. Well, on that side, they didn't have as many men, and the phalanx was starting to crack. And basically, a phalanx is, imagine a row of shields, guys fighting shoulder to shoulder. My shield is in my left arm, and I'm covering up the dude to my left. The dude on my right is covering up me, and it's a wall of shields all the way across.

4:40 Well, behind them are more guys with their shields pushing into the backs of the guys in front of them. And then guys behind them with their shields in their backs, and they're basically pushing, as all the guys have 15-foot spears, that they're basically just thrusting over the shoulders of the guys in front of them, a mill of murder just churning over their enemy in front of them. And in this case, the Persians had like wicker shields, so that's why they were able to devastate them the way they were.

5:09 Well, on the far right side of the phalanx, Aristodemus was in the very front, and it started to crack. So what he did is he went absolutely apeshit, and he just started fucking killing Persians by the boatload, right? He took out his sword. He started annihilating everybody, risked his life, obviously, because he was shamed at the Battle of Thermopylae, risked his life but killed so many Persians that he was able to save that side of the phalanx. In fact, of the thousands of warriors that were there at the Battle of Platae, Aristodemus was said to be the bravest and to be the most courageous in that battle.

5:48 During the battle, he was killed. He was found later by his brothers, and he was carried on their shoulders back to Sparta as a fucking hero. So no matter how badly things get for you, you can always redeem yourself. In my opinion, that's actually the point of life. The point of life is to fail, to redeem ourselves, to never fucking quit. And as the shodo that hangs on my wall here in my office says, nintai ryoku to hokori, which is Japanese for strength and honor. And the first part, strength, nintai ryoku, means persevering strength.

6:22 And interestingly, if you guys are watching on video, that first kanji at the top is nin. And nin is the same nin that they use in ninja. Ninja basically means persevering person, because that first kanji means perseverance. So I absolutely love that story. And there's actually a super cool side story that I'm going to tell right now. So in high school, I did a report on Aristodemus. I stood in front of my history class, did a report on him. And at that time, I was kind of pre-pubic.

6:51 I'm going to have Liam put up another picture of me. Boys, this is when I was 16 years old. I used to get pulled over all the time by cops saying, are you old enough to drive? Because I was pre-pubic. I didn't go through puberty until I was 19. That was part of the reason I struggled with women. Part of the reason I didn't lose my virginity until I was 21. And part of the reason I became a dating coach, because I was so horrible with women. I was so fearful around them.

7:17 I was pre-pubic. I was rejected a lot. So when I did the report about Aristodemus in front of my history class, people kind of made fun of me a little bit. And there was this one bully particularly. I remember this asshole. His name was Kevin. He was in that class too. And he was also in my science class. So one day, we're in science class. And I'm at my table. And I'm putting together this like awesome report, right? I did all this work on it. It was one of those big styrofoam boards where you have like hypothesis, observation, proof, conclusion, right?

7:49 I had that whole thing. Homeboy turns around and with a gigantic felt tip marker, fucking goes on my entire board and just starts drawing circles on it, ruining what was weeks worth of work. So dude, I fucking lost my mind, dude. I saw red. I stood up. And mind you, I'm pre-pubic at this time. I'm small. I'm skinny. I'm not strong. This guy was like a huge football player. But dude, I didn't fucking care. I was like completely pissed off. So I get up and I don't know what I'm going to do.

8:19 I just walk over to him. And I wasn't even thinking, dude, I fucking make a fist. I wind up and I just drill this dude right up against the side of his head. I remember I hit him right in the temple. And it was like my hand had some kind of power behind it. I could feel like the fucking energy. And I just fucking rake this guy, dude, upside the head. And there were two popular guys who were like sitting behind me. And they were like, holy shit, dude, did you just see what Mark did to Kevin?

8:47 So I fucking decked this dude. And he looks up at me and he's like, I'm sorry, bro. I'm sorry. And I'm like, don't fuck with me. And he's like, I'm so sorry. So like at this time, the whole class is watching. And they're like, holy shit, dude, Mark just decked the shit out of Kevin. And Kevin bitched out. So from that point forward, they started calling me Aristodemus because just a few weeks earlier, I did the report about Aristodemus, right? Lost his honor, came back at the Battle of Plata and reclaimed it.

9:16 And guys, at the end of this episode, I am actually going to put the Spartan King visualization, an NLP visualization that I did several years ago that I'm so proud of that I'm including at the end of this episode. And in that visualization, there's a character called Aristodemus. That guy is me. You're the Spartan King. I'm Aristodemus. So when you listen to it, even if you've heard it before, you could be like, oh, I see now what Mark did. He put himself in the story too as Aristodemus.

9:45 So from that point forward, my name was Aristodemus. And I always tell that story to girls. They really like it. It's proof of perseverance. Even when you're down, even when you're a quote unquote loser, a nerd, a skinny pre-pubic sea donkey, you could still redeem yourself. So that's how I got my nickname, Aristodemus. And guys, definitely stay tuned till the very, very end because I have that visualization. It's so sick. It's going to get you so motivated. And I hope you enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed making it several years ago.

10:17 All right. The next story. This is actually about the Lewis and Clark expedition. This is such a cool story. And it's about a guy named John Coulter. You really need to hear this. This is such a sick story. So the Lewis and Clark expedition was petitioned by President Thomas Jefferson. And this came after the Louisiana Purchase, where the United States purchased a big part of the United States territory from actually Napoleon. Napoleon owned it at that time. And guys, guess how much we paid for what was literally 828,000 square miles.

10:49 I'm talking from the Missouri River all the way to the front range of the Rocky Mountains into Montana, into Texas. It includes Nebraska, part of Wyoming. Looks like it includes Oklahoma and a bunch of different states. Guess how much we paid for that? $15 million for 828,000 square miles of land. It was an absolute deal. And Napoleon at the time was like, hey, I need the money for making war on other people so you guys can purchase this from us. Well, surprisingly, the American public was really butthurt about this purchase.

11:26 So Thomas Jefferson petitioned the Lewis and Clark expedition called the Corpse of Discovery to go west and go find out what was in those hills, what was in that land, and to see if we can make money from it. So you guys have probably heard about it. They started from the East Coast. They went up the Missouri River, which was opposite the flow. So they literally had to push 4,000 pounds of supplies up this fucking river with simply pulling ropes. 33 guys, I think it was. They started with, I think, 50 or 60, and a bunch of guys quit because they were little bitches.

12:00 But the rest of the guys, they had to pull these boats up the river. So eventually, they get all the way to the Oregon coast. They're famous. And John Coulter was one of the members of that expedition. The reason why they brought him in is because he was a mountain man. He was good at speaking with Indians. He was a survivalist, a hunter. And they needed those kind of guys to blaze the trail to get across the Rocky Mountains and make it to the Pacific coast.

12:25 So several years later, John Coulter, after he had all this fame of being part in the Lewis and Clark expedition, was with his buddy, John Potts. And they were hunting in the Blackfeet territory. Now, the Blackfeet territory was in upper Montana. And he'd been through there before. And he knew the Blackfeet were not to be fucked with. The Blackfeet were part of the Indians who didn't want anything to do with white settlers, knew that the white pioneers crossing America was a huge, huge danger to their tribe and their civilization.

12:56 So anytime they came across a white man, they basically killed him or told them to fuck off, go tell your big white chief on the east that we're not to be fucked with. And that was actually the policy of a lot of tribes. And then we know what happened. America, as we are apt to do, completely screwed them over. It is such a horrible story. Something for a different episode. But in 1808, after the expedition, John Coulter and his buddy, John Potts, were trapping in the Blackfeet territory in upper Montana because at that time, beaver pelts were being sent back east to make felt hats because felt hats were like a trend both in Europe and the United States.

13:37 Did you know that? The reason why we expanded so quickly west was to get beaver. And the reason why we were getting beaver is because of fashion. So the mountain men, guys like Jeremiah Johnson, Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and of course, John Coulter, all went west to get beaver because it was worth a lot of money, right? Because everybody needed it for fashion. So they're trapping in the Blackfeet territory. And while they're on the river, they hear what they thought was a big buffalo herd coming by.

14:07 But it turns out that it was hundreds and hundreds of Blackfeet warriors on horses. So they all show up, they take out their bows and arrows, and they pointed at these guys. John Coulter, being good with Indian sign language, which, by the way, is a really cool thing I'm going to talk about in a second, was talking to him and saying, hey, we're sorry, we're just here exploring. But his buddy, John Potts, pulled up his rifle. Look at this idiot. He's surrounded by hundreds of Blackfeet.

14:32 And he fucking literally pulls up his rifle, which at that time, by the way, was a muscle loader. You get one shot, pulls up his rifle, and aims it at these guys. So what do they do? They fucking kill them. Dozens of arrows go into this guy. He's fucking killed right there on the spot. And now they're looking at John Coulter and being like, motherfucker, we're going to kill you too. So John Coulter, being good with Indian sign language, et cetera, is like, hey, we're just exploring.

14:57 Please don't kill me. I'll get out of here right now. And they're like, no, no, no, no, no. Come over here, young man. So they strip him naked. And he's listening. He's eavesdropping. And he can understand a little bit of Blackfeet language, but really, he's better with Indian sign language. But he's listening to him, and he's like, oh, my God, dude, these guys are going to kill me. Well, what they decided to do was to have him run. Then after like 20 seconds, a big band of warriors, some historians say hundreds of warriors, we're going to chase him down and try to kill him.

15:29 Now, going back to Indian sign language, a quick side note. It's really cool because actually American sign language, the contemporary modern sign language we use, is based on Indian sign language, at least in part. And the reason why there was Indian sign language, it's called plain sign language, I think it's called. Don't quote me on that. Don't get butthurt if I'm wrong about that. But the reason they use that is because, think about it, the Sioux had a different language as the Arapaho, had a different language as the Crow, had a different language as the Navajo, and et cetera.

16:00 So they all needed to talk to each other, and they developed this kind of sign language. One really cool thing is white man is this with your hand kind of across your forehead. That symbolizes wearing a hat because at the time, white men all wore hats. I'm a white man, and I wear hats too, so it really works. So that's white man. And oftentimes when you see real sign language, or I should say modern sign language, it's based off Indian sign language. So they sign to him, hey dude, you're going to run when I tell you.

16:30 So he's standing there, think about it, butt naked. He's in this big plane because he was right on the river, and oftentimes rivers will have planes next to them. So he's in this big plane, but here's the thing. He has no boots on, no socks on, and it's full of prickly pear cactus. Have you ever seen prickly pear cactus? It's exactly as it sounds. It's prickly, it'll stab you, it'll cut your feet open, and that's what he has to fucking run through. So the chief signals him, start running, runt.

16:59 So dude, he takes off, and he was in great shape. He was physically fit, and he was fast. So he starts booking it, his feet getting cut up by the prickly pear, not knowing where to go. But he's just basically going, and then suddenly he hears hundreds of Native Americans following him. Probably 100 or 200 yards back. So he's booking it as fast as he can. Well, one of the Native Americans, we don't know his name, but one of them was really fast. And he's starting to gain on him with his spear.

17:30 So John's running, looking over his shoulder, and he's like, dude, this guy's gaining on me. So right at the last moment, right when he's about to catch him, John stops, takes his spear from him, and fucking kills him right there on the spot. Now he's really running for his life. So he's booking it as fast as he can, and he sees what I believe was the Columbia River. Once again, don't quote me on that, but he sees a river in front of him. So he runs into the river, and he sees a beaver dam.

17:56 Because at that time, obviously, they were going west to hunt beaver, and beaver were everywhere. He reported back to Thomas Jefferson during the Lewis and Clark expedition that the beaver were infinite out west. So he sees a beaver dam, and he knows from his experience that the beaver dams sometimes have air pockets in them. Basically, a beaver dam is a bunch of wood gathered up in order to stop the water so they can make a little lake. And this is what beavers do, right? That's their instinct.

18:24 So he dives in the water, and he swims under, and he goes up into the beaver dam. And sure enough, there's a little pocket of air. So there he is underneath the beaver dam. And can you imagine the beavers in that place? They're like, dude, what the fuck are you doing, man? Get out of our house. But obviously, he had to do what he had to do. So he's in there, and after a few minutes, he hears the rest of the Indians arriving, hundreds of Indians looking for him, searching all around the river, literally walking over where he was hiding.

18:51 So he's in that freezing-ass water. And if you've ever been in the Rocky Mountains, as I have, the water's always cold. So he's in there, and he stays in there all night long. So he comes out in the morning, all the Indians are gone, and he has a 200-mile walk back to his fort. Have you guys ever been lost in the wilderness without a knife, without shoes, butt-ass naked? Not to mention, no container, no flint and steel, no coat to keep you warm. None of us have had that experience.

19:20 But I'll tell you, 200 miles under those conditions is absolutely diabolical. So somehow, he makes the trek over 11 days and navigates back to his fort. He shows up, and everybody says, we didn't even recognize him. He was so emaciated. He was so bloodied. He was so hopeless-looking. They didn't even know who he was when he signed up. Some of his best friends couldn't even recognize him. So eventually, he was nursed back to health, and some writer wrote a book about him, John Coulter, and his survival. And then, he became again a mountain man, went back west, started trapping beaver because he loved it so much, had a couple hairy incidents with the Blackfeet again, and he's like, you know what?

20:04 I'm quitting. I'm going back east. But I love these mountain man stories. It's the story of perseverance. It's the story of courage. And I hope it inspires you just as much as it inspires me. All right, boys. In my last story, and this one's kind of a little more funny than it is actually inspiring, but this is also pretty cool. So this goes back to the Lewis and Clark expedition. On that expedition, there was something like 30 to 50 men. A bunch of guys quit, but there was only one Black man, and his name was York.

20:33 York was actually the slave of the Clark family, and William Clark actually grew up with him, and they were both kids. They were around the same age. So York grows up to be this gigantic, strong, over-six-foot Black dude, and unfortunately, he was a slave at the time. But Clark had him come with him because he was strong, because he was so able. So during the expedition, York actually earned his freedom. He was basically a free man as anybody else was. Well, he turned out to be a huge asset because Native Americans, when they saw him, they've never seen a Black guy before.

21:05 Think about this. You're out there living your life, then suddenly all these white guys come up, and a Black dude shows up, and you've never seen a Black guy before. So they were super enthralled by this guy, and what Lewis and Clark didn't realize is that the Native Americans thought he was a bear. They looked at him, and they're like, is this a bear and a man mixed together? And at one point, when they came across the Nez Perce tribe, the Nez Perce would often make themselves Black with charcoal after they were particularly brave during a hunt or during a war.

21:36 So the bravest Indian would have charcoal put all over him, and then eventually it would rub off over several days, but that was to signify that he was the bravest guy. So when the Lewis and Clark expedition met the Nez Perce, they saw this Black dude, and they're like, oh my God, he must be a permanently Black guy because they were literally trying to get the charcoal off of him. They went up to him, and they were trying to rub the charcoal off, and they couldn't.

22:00 And they're like, oh my hell, this guy's a permanent Black dude, which means he must be the bravest soul. And because they thought he was part bear, they thought he had great powers. So here's what they did. Think about this, boys. You're a slave. You grew up that way. Then you go on this expedition with the Corps of Discovery, and suddenly you run into a Native tribe. They put you in your own tent. This is literally what happened to this dude. They put him in his own tent, and girl after girl after girl visited him in order to get impregnated by him.

22:33 Think about that. You got your own tent. You're just in the lap of luxury, being fed buffalo meat with all these furs around you, and hot chick after hot chick comes into your tent with one thing in mind, to bone you. Because they wanted him to impregnate all their women so that their kids could be born also with the bear blood inside of them, and also with courage inside of them. So York's like, yo, dude, I hit the fucking jackpot. All these chicks are coming in here to bone me.

23:02 This is fucking awesome. So eventually, they get to the Oregon coast. He comes back to the States as a hero. We don't really know what happened to him, but basically, historians say that he was given his freedom. He went back up into Montana to live with some of the tribes. Some historians say, obviously, because he wanted to get laid a bunch more, and that's the story of York. I thought that was pretty funny. What a result for a dude who started in, obviously, an extremely difficult childhood.

23:28 All right, gentlemen, I hope you've enjoyed these stories. I certainly enjoyed researching them and telling them to you guys. I love stories like that, man. It gets me inspired, gets me motivated, makes you realize just how hard it was, first of all. But secondly, that with perseverance, with the never-quit attitude, you can get over any challenge. That comes to you, especially in the modern day, where, let's be honest, things are quite a bit easier than they were back then. Guys, stay tuned after my little call to action coming up.

23:55 I'm going to ask you to subscribe and do all that stuff. My awesome podcast editor, Liam, is going to include my NLP visualization called The Spartan King. You do not want to miss this. I know this has been a long episode, but just stay tuned, man. You're really going to appreciate what I've got for you coming up. All right, gentlemen, as a reminder, I draw podcasts every Tuesday, and I will see you in the next episode. What is up, brother? I just wanted to thank you sincerely for watching this episode.

24:24 If you've gotten any value whatsoever out of my content, the single best way to help me is to like, comment, subscribe, leave me a review. You have no idea how much that helps me. Also, if you're struggling with women and you want to talk to me personally about how I can help you achieve your goals with women, sign up for my three-month coaching program below, and you and I will talk. Join us in the unapologetic army. You look to your right, and you see hundreds of warriors lined up shoulder to shoulder.

25:09 Each man is holding a shield, a spear, and a bronze helmet with a horsehair crest. The line stretches a mile long, each man holding his spear at high port, making a spike fence that's absolutely still in the breeze. You look to the left, and it's the same thing. 500 warriors dressed in bronze, sweat, and scarlet red cloaks. You at the very center of the line. You look down, and you see your shield in your left hand, and your helmet in your right. Slowly, you put on your helmet.

25:39 It feels sturdy and true. The smell of polished bronze, oiled leather, and years of preparation fill your heart with confidence, courage, and love of the fight. You hear the wind going through the horsehair mohawk on your helmet. The traverse horsehair crest of a Spartan king. You step out in front of your army and turn around. You're immediately taken by the glistening sun coming off the polished bronze shields and Corinthian-style helmets. The eyes of the helmets are stark black, like some expressionless demonic army, ready to bring on the coming mill of slaughter.

26:15 The sight of this army, your brothers that you've known since you were a child, fills your heart with courage, pride, and love. You notice every head is turned towards you now, waiting for your words, waiting for your leadership. You hold up your left arm, your shield arm, and yell, This is my shield. And at once the entire army of 50,000 voices joins yours. This is my shield. I bear it before me into battle. But it is not mine alone. It protects my brother on my left. It protects my city.

26:46 I will never let my brother out of its shadow, nor my city out of its shelter. I will die with my shield before me, facing the enemy. At this, the army starts marching. You turn around, wait a few moments, then you get absorbed into the mass of moving men. This is the Spartan phalanx. A tightly packed group of warriors with a line of shields across the front. 50 shields deep, 1,000 across. You at the very center. You and your army march in perfect unison. Each step drilled tens of thousands of times.

27:19 A mass of men so fluid and well-rehearsed, they become one. All the me's, all the I's, all the us's, they all become you. Shoulder to shoulder with your brothers. With one beating heart. The phalanx is so smooth, so seamless, it moves over the battlefield like water. Now from the ranks rises the hymn of Apollo. 50,000 throats sing in the Spartan song of battle. And on the climatic beat of the second stanza, heaven-shining brother, sky-born hero, the spears of the first three ranks, including your spear, snap from the vertical into the attack.

27:55 You can feel the weight of the helmet on your head. You can feel your footsteps marching in perfect beat to the trumpeters. You can see the enemy in front of you, out the eye slits of your helmet. You hear your breath, you feel your heart pounding. There they are, just a half a mile across the field, that's smooth as a schoolteacher's desk. The enemy, now full of piss and vinegar, and no longer able to be held by their officers, lets out a deafening battle cry that echoes off the adjacent mountains.

28:25 They start to charge. The ground shakes like an earthquake. Your army keeps marching in perfect order. Not even one warrior so much as flinching at this otherwise terrifying sight. The enemy, now getting closer, is charging at a full sprint. Your army keeps walking. You can see the whites of the enemy's eyes, yet your army keeps walking. Then, as if in slow motion, your two armies collide. It's like being hit with a mountain. The thunderous crunch of shield upon shield echoes across the battlefield, like 10,000 thunderbolts striking at once.

29:01 The weight of their entire force is now pressing on your shield and the shields of your brothers down the line. The warrior behind you pushes his shield into your back, and the man behind him pushing his shield into his back. The same thing all the way back through the ranks. The pressure is unbearable. You can hardly breathe as you're pinned between two pushing armies. But you're trained for this. The mind has many different rooms, some of which you should never enter. Fear is such a room, and the solution to fear is action.

29:30 You and your army find its footing and begin to push. The Spartan trumpeters, who stand at the very back of the line, start calling out the beat. Step by step, you begin to move forward. Shield to shield and eyeball to eyeball with the enemy, the raw strength of the entire Spartan army, pushing their king from behind. The spear tips of your brothers from behind you hum past your helmet over and over again, killing men so fast they seem to disappear into the ground before you. Step by step, this continues, your feet now walking on the slithering forms of the dead and dying.

30:05 You glance to the right, and you see the traverse horsehair crest of your best friend, Aristodemus, your brother that you've known since as long as you can remember. The left side of his shield overlapping yours, protecting your blind spot, keeping you safe in its shadow, as your shield is doing for your brother on your left. This wall of brawn protects your army as it advances. Step after step, thrust after thrust, your spear tip now dripping with the blood and guts of the enemy. On and on it continues, the burning in your shoulders, the quaking in your thighs.

30:36 The pain is a gift of unmovable determination. I will die before I quit, you say. Suddenly, you feel the pressure of the foe give way before you. A shout. Half of joy and half of awe springs from the throats of your brothers. The enemy are losing their courage, and some of them are turning to run. The Spartan phalanx breaks up, each man to fight on his own merits. You break your spear off in the gut of some bearded mercenary and draw your Zephos, your Spartan sword.

31:05 Left and right, you're slaying the enemy with the swordsmanship you've been practicing non-stop since you were three years old. You kill three enemies so fast the last guy is dead before the first two hit the ground. Then some giant from the enemy four-rankers catches you unaware, slamming you over the head with his battlehammer. You fall to the ground, blood pouring from your face, helmet tumbling into the fray. Just as you peer up to see his hammer coming down on your head, delivering the final blow that will surely send you to hell, the shadow of a Spartan shield falls over you.

31:37 The hammer slams into it, then a bigger, ghastlier thud lands on top of you. Wiggling out from under the body of this enemy giant, you're pulled up by one of your brothers. It's Aristodemus, looking like a god made of muscle and bronze. With the blood-sprayed grin, he says, now's no time to take a nap, brother. You both laugh and enter back into the fray. On and on the fighting continues. You break three swords, cave in at least five shields, and plunge discarded spears into the faces of so many enemies, you can hardly decipher reality from some never-ending nightmare.

32:13 Your wound is open on your head, your skull shining naked to the sun. But you know it's not fatal, so you take a sick pride in it. At last, the trumpeters sound victory. Your limbs quake and tremble as you fall to your knees. Many of your brothers do the same, having exerted feats of physical prowess that go beyond anything remotely possible were it not for war. The army begins to gather around you. You rise to your feet, and very slowly, very methodically, raise your sword to the sky.

32:46 Not with arrogance, not with self-aggrandizement, just the humble acknowledgement of victory. Without a word, all your brothers do the same. We score the life of leisure, laziness, and weakness, you say. We've instead enrolled ourselves in the academy of discipline and sacrifice. And now we have this. Victory, not over the enemy, but victory over the enemy within ourselves. What man wouldn't give everything dear to him to stand with us now? And now with your intention, I want you to float that Spartan king off the battlefield and into your body as you're listening to this right now.

33:25 Feel the pride of confronting your fears with a full, courageous heart. Feel the satisfaction of moving into your pain willingly and rising above your fears to live a life that is worthy of you as a man. Paint the inside of your body with this feeling and let it seep into every cell of your being. What is a warrior? It's a man who fights regardless of the battle that lays before him. And now I ask you, brother, what is your fight? What are you willing to sacrifice for?

33:57 What is worth the pain for you to achieve? You have a warrior inside you, so let that warrior fight. Thank you for listening.

This transcript was made automatically, so a few words may be off.