Since working with Law Enforcement and Military starting in 2002, I couldn’t exactly say the first time I heard the expression, “Embrace the Suck.” I do know it was in the presence of friends of mine who served in the US Military. The origin of the term stems from military service and is often credited to US Special Forces. Books have been written about this expression and others like it. Colonel Austin Bay used it as the title to one of his books. As Brendon Burchard puts it in his YouTube post this is a great expression.
Upon hearing the expression, I immediately understood the meaning behind it and how it applied to so many aspects of life. Sometimes you have to do things that are unpleasant and unavoidable. Some of those things we pursue or control. While others happen out of our control. I know to grow muscle mass and be in shape I have to put in the work. In my career, I have had work tasks I would rather not do but know it needs to get done. There are chores at home I would love to ignore and the list could go on. Point being, we all have something that we would rather not have to do or put up with but know it needs to be done. We do it because ultimately we believe or hope there is a reward at the end. The reward might be as simple as knowing whatever the task was is over or it might be finally achieving the goal you set for yourself. There are those who don’t pull their weight too. They are a drain on we who do perform and push through the mundane. The important things are our attitudes, motivations, and perspective when we face the “Suck”. The saying goes something like this, “Attitudes influence Thoughts, Thoughts direct Actions, and Actions lead to Destiny.” I have found this to be true.
In the fall of 2016 after several years of putting in the effort, I finally harvested my first elk. I was a little over a half-mile from my truck which was actually the shortest distance I had ever been from a vehicle while hunting elk. Many elk hunters will quickly tell you how lucky I was while eagerly readying themselves to tell their worst possible story.
On this occasion, I was alone in the Sawtooths. The Sawtooth Mountain Range is one of the most beautiful and rugged in all of Idaho. It offers outdoor enthusiasts anything they could want and for hunters, elk tags are some of the most prized possessions. To be in the Sawtooths, with a tag and have harvested an elk is something I am truly grateful for.
Now I had never packed an animal of this size out of the Rocky Mountains, let alone by myself. The first part of the “Suck” after harvesting an animal is field dressing it once you’ve punched the tag. If you aren’t familiar with this term, I wasn’t dressing it up in the latest fashion. This is the disgusting, stinky and gruesome process of removing organs and the like out of the main cavity of an animal’s body. There is nothing pleasant or enjoyable about it. As you finish up this process, you are left with sections of the animal typically referred to as quarters. I grabbed my Badlands Ox pack and started to slide a front shoulder and hind leg into the pack along with the head.
The next part of the “Suck” was positioning myself downhill of the pack and getting the straps over my shoulders. I cinched the waist strap as tight as possible and leaned forward. As the weight shifted downhill onto my back, I immediately drove my thighs hard to a standing position. After a little bit of a balancing act, my shooting sticks doubled as a stabilizer. I started the first trek back to the truck side-hilling the steep terrain on a narrow animal path back to the truck. I met fellow hunters on the way in and they snapped a photo of me.
I repeated this process again until all that was left was the entire backbone, rib cage, and neck. Since I had forgotten to grab my bone saw or ax to break this section up, I decided to pack the entire section out in one trip. I have to say the Badlands Ox can definitely handle more than you should ever attempt to carry. I made it back to the truck, exhausted and unable to feel my left arm. I later found that I had impinged my rotator cuff which I am still dealing with today.
While that experience had its moments of “Suck”, I have gone elk hunting every year since. I plan on doing it for as long as I can afford it and healthy enough to participate. Being out in the great outdoors in the early fall pursuing what I love to do motivates me to want to come back. Embracing the suck is part of the whole experience.
We don’t know the true value of something until we have worked to earn it or in some cases pushed through obstacles. Too often people try pushing the Staples’ Easy Button in their lives or lay blame at someone’s feet while excusing their own part to play and take personal responsibility.
My folks didn’t have easy childhoods. One faced mental and physical abuse while the other was neglected and felt abandoned. When they became parents to four kids, early on they barely had enough to feed themselves let alone us. Learned behaviors were easy to fall back on and to say my siblings and my upbringing was a cakewalk is a nice wish more than fact. Nor would I argue that I had it just as bad as my parents. My parents did their best and worked hard at providing for us.
It would be easy to play the victim, especially now where victimhood is almost seen as a badge of honor or “cool”. But, I am stubborn and fat-headed about not doing that. I have a Warrior Spirit. Warriors feel the same thing others do but choose to respond differently. Humans are the most adaptable creatures on the planet. You can take a child born in the US and put them in Africa. In the right conditions, they will be able to grow up, learn the language, culture, and customs as if they were native to the continent. I have seen this played out in reverse as friends of mine have adopted internationally because they were unable to have their own.
I have friends who have certainly been through worse though you wouldn’t know it being around them. While our childhoods may have had a lot of “Suck”, it certainly taught us how to deal with adversity and reach for a goal. You can look at it one of two ways. You were taught how to be abusive or you learned what not to be like. You make the choice either consciously or through your actions. My siblings and I learned a lot about human failure, self-evaluation and that you can choose to be more.
Life has its ups and downs with no Easy Button. Overcoming adversity isn’t easy and requires discipline. I have no ill-will toward my parents. I love them dearly for who they are though sometimes don’t agree with their actions. I am sure they can say as much about me. I don’t wish abuse on anyone and if you are in an abusive situation, I am not suggesting you stay in it. I am talking about what you do with the negative feelings and hurt with respect to your attitude, thoughts, actions, and destiny. For me, I left for college and didn’t look back. As I think about my wife, daughter, and our lives together, I would not trade my childhood. I went through personal pain and discomfort to come to a place of great joy and happiness. These experiences made me who I am today and focused on who I will become in the future. There is honor in the struggle though we may not see it. Lift your head up toward the horizon and keep climbing.
- L. Yarbrough, Bucks & Beers
