The significance of mental health came to light and became more visible after the Covid-19 pandemic. It is high time that ever recorded in history that people started to pay more attention to their mental wellbeing and took it as a real thing.
Around the world, people encountered similar experiences concerning their mental health. As a result, it was openly discussed on various platforms while evoking the critical urge of global awareness on mental health education. Unfortunately, there were several tragic events where suicidal attempts, domestic violence hit the spike.
Also, unemployment, poverty, lack of access to medical facilities, decease of beloveds, paused education like issues raised anxiety, depression, stress, frustration, hopelessness, isolation, loneliness among people despite any age difference. It is a very critical situation where we need to pay attention and start working on reestablishing a healthy mindset to stop victimising the negativity waiting outside.
William Harry McRaven is a retired United States Navy four-star Admiral who served as the ninth commander of the United States Special Operations Command also; he was the chancellor of the University of Texas System. During a speech he conducted at the University of Texas, he declares how commanders train their men to be resilient and resistant to all kinds of threatening, risky scenarios that could take place on the battlefield.
The intensive training sessions and strict discipline code make a physically and mentally powerful soldier who could face any uncertain event on the battlefield. That kind of knowledge is needed for everybody to come out of hardships and unprecedented times of life. In the speech, Admiral McRaven shares the lessons he learned during his time of service with the audience to spread awareness on having hope and being strong even in most furious storms. The below are some extractions from his speech that evoke how tough training sessions are to create the kind of soldiers needed for the force.
Changing the world
“Over a few weeks of difficult training, my SEAL class (The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams), which started with 150 men, was down to just 35. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up of the little guys, the munchkin crew we called them.
No one was over about five-foot-five. The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the mid-west. They out-paddled, out-ran, and out-swam all the other boat crews. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your colour, not your ethnic background, not your education, and not your social status. If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers”.
Moving forward
“Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed and your belt buckles shiny and void of any smudges. But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform, or polishing your belt buckle, it just wasn’t good enough.
The instructors would find “something” wrong. For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surf zone, and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of his body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a “sugar cookie.” There was many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it was unappreciated. Those students didn’t make it through training.
Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform. Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes. If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.”
Darkest moment
“As for Navy SEALs, one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during basic training. The ship attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor and then swims well over two miles underwater using nothing but a depth gauge and a compass to get to their target.
During the entire swim, even well below the surface, some light comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you. But as you approach the ship, which is tied to a pier, the light begins to fade. The steel structure of the ship blocks the moonlight, it blocks the surrounding street lamps, and it blocks all ambient light. To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel, the centerline, and the deepest part of the ship. This is your objective.
But the keel is also the darkest part of the ship where you cannot see your hand in front of your face, where the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening, and where it is easy to get disoriented and fail. Every SEAL knows that under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the time when you must be calm, composed, when all your tactical skills, your physical power, and all your inner strength must be brought to bear. If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.”
As Admiral McRaven says, “Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if take you to take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift the downtrodden, and never, ever give up. If you do these things, then the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today. And what started here will indeed have changed the world for the better.”
