The Sound of Quitting

I got this picture from a friend who was able recently to tour the Navy Seals training facility in San Diego. Notice two things in the picture: the row of helmets and the bell. This is the bell they must ring if they decide to quit during the intense qualification time (think Lone Survivor). After they ring the bell, they lay their helmet down in this row as a monument to those who didn’t make it.

My friend was being given a tour by a current Seal. He asked the Seal, “What causes someone to ring the bell?” His answer: “I have no idea, I would never ring that bell. You’ll have to ask one of the guys that did.”
I wonder what emotions you’d feel as you approached the bell and then physically went through with ringing it? What does your hand feel like as you grab the rope? Does it sound different to you than the others that hear it?
More importantly, what if there were a bell for us whenever we took the easy way out on something instead of pushing through the conflict? Would we try harder? Would we give it more time? Would that actually be a deterrent for us? But I also realize, based on the Seal’s answer to my friend’s question, that there are essentially two types of people: those that can fathom ringing the bell, and those that have no idea what that would be like. So which one are you?

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Jeremy Jernigan

Speaker | Author | Founder of Communion Wine Co. https://linktr.ee/JeremyJernigan