Hello.
This is Coach Tom with a story.
The warrior who would not put down her heart.
Find a comfortable position.
Let your hands rest wherever they fall naturally.
And if it feels comfortable,
Gently close your eyes.
Before we go anywhere,
Before we think about anything.
Let's simply breathe.
Take a slow,
Deep breath.
And hold it gently.
And slowly breathe it out of your mouth.
And again,
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
A little deeper this time.
Feel your chest rise.
And hold it.
For just a moment.
And let it go.
As you exhale.
Allow your shoulders to drop.
Let your jaw soften.
Relax the muscles around your eyes.
Let your hands become heavy and with every breath give yourself permission to become a little more still.
There is nowhere you need to be right now.
Nothing you need to fix.
Nothing you need to prove.
Whatever happened before this moment can stay where it is.
And whatever is waiting for you after this moment can wait.
Just be here.
Breathing.
Listening and perhaps allowing yourself to hear something you need to hear.
Take one more slow breath in.
And slow breath out.
I want to share with you a story.
There once was a warrior who had spent most of her life preparing for battle.
She had been taught how to protect herself,
How to stand her ground,
How to keep going when she was tired,
How to survive when things became difficult,
And she was good at it.
People knew her as strong.
Dependable.
The person you wanted beside you when things went wrong.
But no one had ever taught her what to do.
When the battle wasn't happening around her.
But inside of her.
There came a season when everything seemed to go wrong at once.
People disappointed her.
Plans she had counted on fell apart.
Doors closed.
Someone she trusted betrayed her.
And despite doing everything she thought she was supposed to do,
Life did not seem particularly interested in being fair.
At first,
The warrior fought harder.
That was what warriors did.
Push.
Work.
Fight.
Survive.
But eventually she became tired.
And not the kind of tire that sleep fixes.
The kind of tire that settles somewhere deep inside you.
And one evening.
She sat alone beside a fire.
Her sword rested on the ground beside her.
And for the first time in her life,
She wondered.
What if being strong isn't enough?
An old woman lived nearby.
People in the village thought she was a little strange.
She grew her own herbs,
Fed stray animals,
Talked to birds,
But somehow seemed to know things about people before they told her.
She saw the warrior.
Sitting by the fire.
She walked over and sat beside her.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
Finally,
She asked,
Long battle?
The warrior laughed.
There isn't even a battle anymore.
She looked at her.
Oh,
Yes,
There is.
The warrior,
Puzzled,
Turned toward her.
She pointed toward the warrior's chest.
That one.
The warrior looked back at the fire.
After a while,
She said,
I've tried to do the right thing.
The old woman nodded,
And.
.
.
It hasn't always mattered.
She nodded again.
I've been loyal to the people who weren't loyal to me.
I've helped people who have.
Not would have not have helped me.
She waited.
I've told the truth.
And watch people who lied get ahead.
" The old woman smiled gently.
And now you're wondering why you should keep being who you are.
The warrior looked at her because that was exactly what she had been wondering.
The woman reached down and picked up her sword.
It was heavy.
She struggled to hold it.
I don't understand why you warriors carry these ridiculous things.
" The warrior laughed.
Then the old woman placed it back on the ground.
You think this makes you a warrior?
She shook her head.
No.
Good,
The old woman said,
Because anyone can carry a sword.
She leaned in closer.
The hardest battle you will ever fight.
Is deciding who you are going to become when life gives you permission to be someone worse.
The worry became quiet and the old woman continued.
It is easy to be kind when people are kind to you.
It is easy to be honest when honesty costs you nothing.
Easy to keep your word when keeping it is convenient.
Easy to believe in goodness when life is good.
She pointed toward the warrior's heart.
But this,
This is where warriors are made.
The warrior stared into the fire.
So I'm supposed to let people hurt me?
No.
Let them take advantage of me?
Keep people in my life who don't deserve to be there?
That woman laughed,
Absolutely not.
And then.
.
.
She said something the warrior would remember for the rest of her life.
Doing the right thing does not mean allowing others to do wrong things to you.
The warrior looked at her.
You can walk away and still be kind.
You can say no and still have compassion.
You can protect yourself without being cruel.
You can draw a line without hating the person standing on the other side of it.
She paused.
Being a good person does not require you to be a weak one.
The fire crackled between them.
And something inside the warrior began to settle.
She had spent her entire life believing strength meant fighting.
But perhaps strength was something different.
Perhaps something and sometimes strength was refusing to fight.
Sometimes strength was leaving.
Strength was speaking.
Strength was staying quiet.
Strength was admitting you were wrong.
Forgiving someone without inviting them back.
And sometimes strength.
Was waking up after life had disappointed you and deciding that life would not get to change the best parts of you.
The old woman stood to leave,
But before she walked away,
She turned back.
Tomorrow you will have another decision to make.
The Warriors said,
What decision?
The same one you make every morning.
And she smiled.
Who will you be today?
And then she disappeared down the path.
The warrior remained beside the fire.
She thought about the people who had hurt her.
The things she had lost.
The moments she wished she could change.
And slowly she began to understand she could not control whether people were honest,
But she could be honest.
She couldn't control whether people were loyal.
But she could be loyal.
And she could not control whether the world was fair.
But she could be fair.
She could not control whether someone else would choose anger,
Greed,
Cruelty,
Or fear.
But she chose what lived inside of her.
And perhaps that was the battle.
Not defeating everyone who's hurt you.
Not proving yourself.
Not winning every fight.
But refusing to let the difficult seasons of your life decide the person you become.
So the warrior picked up her sword,
But something had changed.
She no longer believed the sword was what made her strong.
Her strength was here in her choices,
In her boundaries,
In her compassion,
In her courage.
In the quiet decisions to keep doing what was right,
Even when doing what was right was hard.
And now.
Before you leave this story.
Stay here for just a little while longer.
Don't open your eyes yet.
Just breathe.
Through your nose.
And home.
And breathe out.
And again,
Breathe in and think about whatever battle you may be carrying right now.
Breathe out.
Letting go of everything that isn't yours to carry.
Breathe in.
Maybe someone disappointed you.
Maybe something feels unfair.
Maybe you're exhausted from trying.
Maybe you're standing in a place in your life where doing the right thing feels harder than doing the easy thing.
Breathe out.
You do not need to solve everything today.
You do not need to win every battle.
You do not even have to feel strong.
Sometimes,
Being a warrior simply means taking the next step without abandoning who you are.
Remember,
You can be strong,
Be gentle.
You can forgive and still walk away.
You can love someone,
Still choose yourself.
You can be angry and still choose kindness.
You can be afraid and still move forward.
You can be tired and still be a warrior.
Because courage isn't always loud.
Sometimes courage is simply the quiet voice inside of you saying,
This will not change who I am.
Let it go and imagine setting down whatever sword you've been carrying just for now.
You don't need it here.
Your greatest strength was never in your hands anyway.
It was always in your heart.
Now,
Let's begin to bring yourself back.
And notice the surface beneath you.
Notice the sounds around you.
Take a deeper breath in.
And gently move your fingers as you breathe out.
Move your toes,
Roll your shoulders if that's what feels good and breathe in and remind yourself I can face whatever comes.
I do not have to lose myself while doing it.
And tomorrow morning when the world asks you once again.
Who will you be today?
May your answer be simple.
Someone I can be proud of.
And when you're ready,
Slowly open your eyes.
And welcome back.
Thank you for being here.
Namaste.
