The beginning seduces with excitement. The end rewards with glory. But the middle? It is the wasteland where most are lost, the silent battlefield where victory or failure is determined. To endure, you must master the middle—where the weak falter and the strong forge their will.
The inexperienced are intoxicated by the thrill of initiation, diving headfirst into endeavors with boundless enthusiasm. They revel in early gains, imagining themselves victorious before the war has even begun. But as the initial burst of momentum fades, they find themselves in unfamiliar territory—an expanse of toil, monotony, and slow, grinding progress. Doubt sets in. The applause stops. Without external validation, they waver. This is where most abandon their pursuits, succumbing to fatigue, distraction, or self-pity.
But the wise understand this truth: The middle is the crucible where mastery is either forged or abandoned. It is here that the true competitor emerges—not driven by excitement nor external validation, but by a deeper force: discipline. They do not ask when the struggle will end; they bend to the process, knowing that time and persistence are their weapons.
Deny yourself the illusion of quick success. Those who expect immediate triumph will be crushed by the weight of slow progress. The process bends for no one, and only those who endure will reap its rewards. Find strength in monotony, for the greatest danger is not failure, but boredom. The middle is a test of patience, and only those who learn to thrive in repetition will advance. Resist the impulse to measure too soon. The work done in the middle often lacks visible rewards. Do not be fooled by the absence of applause—progress is occurring, but only for those who persist. Turn discipline into identity. The strongest are not those who start with passion, nor those who dream of the finish line, but only those who bend to the process. Their success is inevitable because they are built to withstand the grind.
Consider Jan Baalsrud, a Norwegian resistance fighter in World War II. In 1943, he and his team set out on a mission to sabotage Nazi military operations in occupied Norway. Betrayed by a local informant, the operation quickly unraveled. His comrades were captured and executed. Baalsrud alone managed to escape, but he was barefoot, unarmed, and being hunted by German forces. What followed was an ordeal so grueling that few men could have endured it.
Fleeing into the Arctic wilderness, Baalsrud battled through knee-deep snow and subzero temperatures. He swam across an ice-cold fjord, his body trembling on the brink of hypothermia. He was forced to shoot and kill a Nazi officer who nearly captured him. He had no food, no supplies, and no rest. Frostbite took hold, and soon his legs began to fail him. With gangrene setting in, he had no choice but to amputate his own toes with a small knife—without anesthetic.
For weeks, he crawled through the frozen terrain, dragging his broken body through the brutal Norwegian landscape. At times, local villagers helped him, hiding him from Nazi patrols and smuggling him from one safe house to another. But there were stretches where he was entirely alone, lying half-buried in the snow, starving, hallucinating, and on the brink of death. Through sheer force of will, he pressed on. Finally, after nearly two months, he reached the border of neutral Sweden—his body shattered but his spirit unbroken.
If this was his middle, how does ours compare? The middle is not meant to be endured by everyone. Most will quit. Many should. The world belongs to those willing to suffer through the unseen battles, the tedious days, and the grueling discipline. If you cannot master the middle, you are not meant to rule—you are meant to serve those who can. Bend to the process. Master it or be mastered by it.
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© Ben Benson
Ben Benson 
March 13, 2025 
