A Challenge Is Like a Sparring Partner

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Photo credit, fair use

When attending United States Marine Corps Recruit Training aboard Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego (1996), I received Linear Involuntary Neural-Override Engagement (LINE) training—a hybrid martial arts combat fighting system used by Marines from 1989 to 1998.

Unlike the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP) training which began in 2001, which focused on incapacitating enemy combatants, LINE training was mainly concentrated on killing enemies—using some of the most violent methods available.

For instance, I learned how to remove a person’s trachea using a Ka-Bar combat knife, sever an individual’s head using a collapsible entrenching tool, and rip a man’s testicles from his body using my bare hands—as a distraction technique when maneuvering for a blood choke.

By the time I attended Marine Combat Training (1997), newly trained Marines were getting in trouble both on and off base for practicing LINE training on fellow service personnel and civilians alike. Unsurprisingly, a well-placed heel stomp to the head can have dire consequences.

This brings to mind the importance of a sparring partner (someone who helps a boxer, martial artist, or other type of fighter practice fighting techniques). Similarly, I think about the matter of a challenge, which the American Psychological Association (APA) thusly defines:

[A]n obstacle appraised as an opportunity rather than a threat. A threat becomes a challenge when the individual judges that their coping resources are adequate not only to overcome the stress associated with the obstacle but also to improve the situation in a measurable way.

Perhaps one of the reasons LINE was replaced with MCMAP was that the former created a legal concern that the latter didn’t. LINE was solely focused on wartime killing, though MCMAP could be used in a peacetime setting. Thus, LINE was a threat and MCMAP was a challenge.

Given the APA distinction between challenges and threats, I now turn to my approach for care regarding mental, emotional, and behavioral health (collectively “mental health”). In particular, I think about the psychotherapeutic modality I practice and a book that I’ve been steadily reading.

As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is informed by Stoic philosophy, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding a book entitled The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

Having received both LINE and MCMAP training, I understand the value of a sparring partner – even as it regards mental health. It would appear that ancient Stoic philosopher Epictetus also comprehended the worth of a training companion, as he once stated (page 290):

Difficulties show a person’s character. So when a challenge confronts you, remember that God is matching you with a younger sparring partner, as would a physical trainer. Why? Becoming an Olympian takes sweat! I think no one has a better challenge than yours, if only you would use it like an athlete would that younger sparring partner.

I don’t need to appeal to “God” in order to endorse the message that a challenge is like a sparring partner. In fact, if you’ll forgive me a personal anecdote, I can identify how I’ve used a challenge – that has had reverberating effects – as something akin to a sparring partner.

In part, my diagnosed traumatic brain injury (TBI) stemmed from LINE training. When I was an ambitious young Marine, I trained as though my life would one day depend on the techniques I learned. Therefore, I delivered and was dealt many concussions, which the APA thusly defines:

[M]ild injury to the brain, due to mechanical trauma or acceleration–deceleration injury, that disrupts brain function but is typically followed by spontaneous recovery. Concussion usually involves at least brief unconsciousness, although it may be diagnosed in the absence of unconsciousness.

The symptoms may include memory loss, headache, irritability, inappropriate emotional reactions, and changes in behavior. Concussions may be classified by severity based on the period of unconsciousness or the extent of memory loss for events before and after the trauma.

Because of TBI, I’ve intermittently experienced significant challenges to effective use of REBT techniques. For instance, if I don’t immediately interrupt irrational beliefs when they manifest, then it’s virtually impossible for me to turn away from nonadaptive behavior.

It’s difficult to assess whether or not my pre-military experience was better or worse in this regard, as I also endured years of psychological trauma, didn’t have a fully developed prefrontal cortex by the time I enlisted, and my testosterone levels were relatively high due to age.

Still, I don’t recall being as reactive during pre-military times as I’ve been throughout post-military periods, after which I sustained multiple TBI events. Thus, my challenge of mild brain damage is akin to a sparring partner when facing problems which typically arise.

Although it’d be nice not to have this sort of sparring partner, I’m resilient enough to face it time and time again. As an example, I’ve often heard that my method of writing is confusing to people. This was something I never heard during pre-military times when I received praise.

All the same, I endure the fact that my proverbial sparring partner is present. I face the challenge of writing not by altogether avoiding one of my favorite activities, though my writing more! I’ll be damned if I allow axiomatic heel stomps to the head (i.e., criticisms) to keep me from writing!

I’ll gladly spar with this challenge until I’ve breathed my last breath! Now, I invite you to consider a similar approach to rational living. Challenges aren’t likely to stop during your lifetime. Therefore, I encourage you to treat them as sparring partners. Fight them head-on!

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

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