day no. 15,170: artificial unsweetener

"Training should also prepare Marines for the uniquely physical nature of combat. Living and caring for themselves in a spartan environment, confronting the natural elements, and experiencing the discomfort of being hungry, thirsty, and tired are as essential in preparing for combat duty as any skills training. The point is not to train individuals on how to be miserable, but rather on how to be effective when miserable or exhausted." 
-- MCDP 1-3: Tactics

Training is the intentional injection of artificial adversity to prepare yourself to better tolerate the actual adversities injected into your life by circumstances. Being prepared to endure difficulty makes it more likely that you will survive the hardships that you encounter. It also increases the likelihood that you will head intentionally into difficulties you might otherwise avoid , especially when they could produce progress in keeping with your priorities. The goal of experiencing voluntary, self-imposed adversity is not to develop a particular enjoyment of difficulty, but rather to develop a character of endurance in the midst of adversity. If you can regularly grind it out when it is artificial, you will be able to rise up and grind it out when it's all on the line.

In other words, I like to add a little artificial unsweetener to my life. It deepens my appreciation of the good things I have and increases my ability to endure the hard things I have no say in. It assists in the embrace of the hard things that accompany a productive life. More oxen, more ox dung. (Pr 14:4)

In keeping with this, I've adopted the regular habits of intermittent fasting in order to learn how to be hungry and happy, cold showers in order to learn how to be inconvenienced and content, and walking to work with weights in my backpack in order to learn how to carry a load when I don't care to. Additionally, walking to work exposes me to whatever elements the day proposes, removes my ability to set the thermostat of my life and teaches me to endure the climate God chooses.

I don't want to be thermostatic or thermocentric. I don't want to be only able to live at 70 degrees. I don't want my life to revolve around getting everything to 70. I want to be effective in whatever environment and adversities God decides.