Fighting The Demons

If you have been following my recent posts, you’ve noticed I’ve talked a lot about motivation, fitness, and the steps to take ownership of your life. That type of stuff isn’t for everyone. You have to be in a certain mindset for it to make sense or appear realistic for your life.

But what if you aren’t there yet? What if you are still fighting your demons? And, even worse, what if you are losing that fight?

I want you to take a moment and think about the people in your life that you think have their shit together. Hell, you may have a certain perception of me having my shit together, based on what you see me post or how we interact.

I’m going to let you in a little secret. Those people that you are thinking of, including myself, fight our demons every day. Just like you do. We are all the same and we all have to wage the war. Sometimes we win. Sometimes we lose. But the war always continues. The difference is that we don’t give up and we don’t surrender, even when we are in the darkest part of the storm.

For the longest time, I didn’t realize I had demons. Yeah, I knew there were certain things I was doing or choices I was making that wasn’t the best for my life. But I never looked at those things as something that was controlling me or my behavior. I just figured it was the way I was and there were certain things I just couldn’t change.

The truth was, I wasn’t being honest with myself. I lied to myself and just accepted my demons as something that was a part of me – always there and unchangeable.

What Are Demons

Demons come in all shapes and sizes. Some have a physical form but all are based on some deeper unbalance within you. Most people think of demons as drugs, alcohol, or gambling. But there are also the inner demons like fear, anger, anxiety, depression, sadness, and low self worth.

Demons have as much power as you empower them with. I’ve come to know them as the hero, the villain, and the bystander. And yes, even a hero can be a demon at times. Think about how you might do something out of some self-concocted hero pride and it ends up being the wrong thing. You do it because “its best for that other person or thing” in your life. You thought you were being noble but the truth is you were doing it out of fear.

Amy Turner breaks it down better as she talks through different life archetypes in one of her recent podcasts. Her explanations are simple and something I think we can all relate to. I recommend checking it out.

We try to hide them all by pretending we are ok. We post pics and videos on social media that show how great our life is but in reality its a mess. Maybe you’re the opposite and constantly talk about how horrible your life is to anyone who will listen. Or maybe you do what I did and push people away under the guise that you hate humans. I mean, humans are nothing but drama, so why not push them away? Am I right?

Its All Bullshit

No matter how you pretend, we all have that inner voice that is screaming bullshit. The problem is, the demons themselves have probably helped you tune it out. You just didn’t realize it.

“People can’t know how much of a mess my life is so I have to post this pic to pretend how amazing it is.” Fear tuned out the inner voice that was saying “Just be real.”

“This one person did this horrible thing to me and now I must tell the whole world about it.” Anger and sadness tuned out that inner voice that was saying “Stop talking and start fixing.”

“No one loves me. I’m not good enough. I’m never going to change.” Lack of self worth tuned out that inner voice that was screaming “You are enough and what are we going to do to feel better about ourselves?” That was my problem. I never thought I was enough. I never was good with myself but I never did anything to fix it.

Fighting The Demons

So the question becomes, how do you fight the demons? The answer is to turn within. When my demons came calling, I realized that I needed to wake up and get brutally honest with myself. No one was going to save me but me. I had to figure out what I needed to do to fix what I, alone, had broken. To do that, I had to turn within.

I took complete ownership of my life. I stopped hiding from myself and the world. And, most importantly, I finally swallowed my pride and asked for help. I didn’t seek help to be saved. I asked for help because I realized I couldn’t do it alone. Asking for help was the hardest thing for me to admit and to do. And help for me came in unexpected ways.

I haven’t defeated the demons completely. It’s still is a daily battle. The truth is that your demons never really go away. They stay lurking in the shadows, waiting for you to show weakness. They are waiting for their opportunity to strike.

Have you figured out a good way to fight your demons? If so, please leave a comment below to let me know.

You have to fight the demons like your life depends on it. Because, in the end, it does.