U.S. MILITARY H BOOK EXCERPT 10TH OF A SERIES

THE RESILIENT WARRIOR NINJUTSU: THE ZEN SIDE OF WARRIOR LIFE

BY STEPHEN SUCHY

Book Editor's Note: Featuring self-help, mental health, and mind and body tactics from a variety of sources — veterans, former and active U.S. Marines, Navy, Army Rangers, Green Berets, family members and caretakers — The Resilient Warrior is collaborative collection providing needed wisdom for complete well-being for all of us. The first step to thriving is surviving, and the first step to surviving is knowing how to get what you need, when you need it. The following excerpt of this essential self-help guide to living a healthy, resilient, fulfilled and better life is the tenth in a series that EP Magazine has featured over the last several months.

Cultivate your passion and channel your energy into a productive art that enhances your clarity, and brings peace to your everyday life. From PT to 5Ks, every veteran knows that working out can be one of the best outlets for the mental challenges that comes with service. However, after years of martial arts training and meditation, I discovered working out was my form of self-medication to block out the anger I'd been holding onto well before I became a Marine.

At 13 years old, I had the unfortunate experience of finding my father dead of a heart attack. I attempted to give him CPR, not knowing my attempts were futile, and immediately became an extremely angry young man. I didn't realize why I was so mad, though it was probably so clear to everyone else. All I knew was that I couldn't focus enough to do anything, or sleep at the end of the day, unless I was exhausted.

I started working out before school, going to football practice after school, and heading back to the gym after dinner, for another two-hour session, usually riding my bike there and back. After getting through some homework when I got home, I would collapse into bed, completely exhausted. I kept the two to three workouts a day routine, throughout high school, and joined the Marines in my junior year, after being inspired by classmates who had joined up. I found my training at Camp