Disclaimer: I do not claim to be a great writer, at the same time I am wishing to improve it, part of it by writing this and working on quality, all constructive criticism is accepted on this front.

Summary: After swallowing the pill, I have synthesized my answer to what the Red Pill is to me. It came down to Be smarter, be stronger, be Social and Demand excellence. Keeping this in mind this is what I feel is what works for me in my life, situation, and future.

Body: I decided that my time away while on a “deployment”, that I would use this time to unfuck myself. I started going to the gym and researching what I am doing, been focusing on what I eat, been reading, been meditating, ben writing my thoughts down in a journal, along with other things. Today leaving the gym, I made a few observations, I have started living in the moment, no millions of thoughts in my head, just silence and just letting things drift through as they appear and letting it go on its way. I have been told by a few people that they see me getting bigger every time they see me. As I was walking from getting dinner I realized what the Red pill means for me. How everyone words it to themselves is different. I told myself in life I wish to strive to accomplish 4 ambiguous things:

Be Smarter, Be Stronger, Be Social and Demand Excellence.

Be Smarter: So breaking it down, I told myself what does it mean to me, to be smarter? And for a moment I rattled off in my head the many things I want to read, learn, and do. After I let it run its course I told myself that I need to pinpoint all of this, and figure out what I want to be mentally. I came back to an interview of Bruce Lee where he was saying to be formless like water. How does that make me smarter? Instead of focusing on the many things I wish to learn I viewed what is the final picture I wish to be, because being smarter is a means to an end (Even though as men we should always keep pushing that end back, because the life of man is a never ending struggle). For me that picture is where, my time is completely my own, no one owns me (my time I mean). I value my time much more then others will value it, but that is a whole other train of thought. In order to gain that time back, I must be smarter with the time I have now. I have been reading books on investing so that I can retire early. My goal is over a million and not having to work for anyone else ever again before 50. That is my vision for being smarter.

Be Stronger: I work as a combat medic, and I have proven that I can still carry a man through a firefight with all his gear and still be effective. But strength is a multifaceted word, at least to me it is. I have trained my body for years, but never took the time to train my spirit and my mind. Strength is the synthesis of the physical, mind and spirit. Want to make that last set when you are spent at the gym? That is where you train your spirit and mind. I was watching a video of a body builder on YouTube, and he was saying that we do not use our full potential regardless of what you believe his message was simple. “When you feel like you are hitting a wall tell yourself that right now your only at 40% and you need to take that 60% by force because your body will fight you” (I would like to digress that this is how I interpret it and not how it was phrased). But even though he was speaking about working out at the gym, I started applying that to everything else. I realized that my own beta tendencies are to live at that wall so that I may continue my day without being uncomfortable. Today alone I found that my mind and spirit are weak, and that I need to hone them just like I have been my body. If you don’t know what it means when all three are present, go to the gym and you will know. Today I applied that, my work out was intense to begin with, but I not only did it, I started adding the small things that makes certain workouts explode. Realize that strength can be described as many things, and is a very subjective term. For the sake of what I have came to realize, be stronger so that your spirit(Will), Mind, and body will not fail you when you need it. (Words handed down to me by an even greater combat medic then I and leader).

Be Social: I am by no means the greatest at being social. That does not mean I have not seen improvements. I went from having a shitty day to a great day following the gym and then socializing and allowing that feeling to get out and interact. In practice, I have been using the fact that I am in the moment and feeling good to allow it to infect every inch of my being. Every step I take, every word I say, no longer turns people off. People are receptive to what you put out there. I am not saying be happy go lucky, what I am saying is that find that thing that can turn any day around. Then after you have basked in it, release it let others be infected by it, create a chain reaction with you at the center of it. Regardless of how big or small it is, do it because you want to and not because you have too. I have today talked to 30 people who I barely interact with just because of this energy, and it carries me far when I hit this feeling. We all will experience it differently but experiment and find that balance for yourself.

Demand Excellence: If I were to draw this into a triangle with the other aspects on the out side, this would be the glue that binds it. Many of the reading that I have read here, have a certain undertone to them some more pronounced then the other. Men are here to struggle, and I understood what it means but today I understood it in the core of who I am. Men are tools created by blacksmiths. That black smith is an amalgamation of factors that shape you (The tool). How useful you are as a tool is based on how you allow yourself to be shaped by the Blacksmith. Stepping away from the metaphors, I said this out loud actually. “I must demand excellence from myself within every breathe I take”, I was walking and I stopped and pondered it for a moment. Sometimes we over look the fine details, like breathing. Off topic for a moment, I have been focusing on my posture and body language and how it affects those around me. The minute details I focus on daily, how I sit, how I project myself, how is my body currently expressing my point, and how are people reacting? Are all things that can be summed up by that statement. I no longer slouch while walking, I realized that I am not 5’ 7 but actually 5’9 because I was slouching. Getting back to topic at hand, all the things are pointless if you don’t demand excellence. I’ll give you an examples on how that makes a difference. I am on bodybuilding.com, simply for the work out routines they post up, it is mostly to learn what works and what doesn’t so that I am able to later create my own, that is tailor fitted to my later fitness goals. When I started lifting for the first time ever a few months ago. I did the work outs and didn’t feel like I was getting the most out of them. I blame part of it on ignorance and circumstance (90% of the time I workout alone and have the gym to myself). The other part was more going through the motions then putting in the work. So what I can curl 120 lbs. its useless if I don’t apply form to it. Can I curl 120 yes, but now I understand that curling it and truly putting in the effort to have full control when you curl it makes a big difference. I had to seek out that information and test it before I could understand. I realized that by demanding excellence, I continue to learn and seek information while I do (regardless of what it is I am engaged in). Remember that to demand excellence from strength you need to remind yourself that you’re only being given 40% and you need to take what you need from your physical being, mind and spirit. Demand excellence from yourself, becoming smarter is a tool it is how you shape it and how you not only impose your will on to it, but applying it to make yourself better. Demand excellence from yourself socially sometimes I approach people just for the sake of doing it, and I keep my mind blank so that I can be in the moment.

In summary, understand that we all view the message of the red pill differently. My definition may be different from many of you, I am not here to change anyone. Simply to say that, even though the words on the side bar are there, that does not mean that you, the person underneath it all will view those words the same way they are phrased. Red pill is not one size fits all, us as men need to figure out how it all connects and understand it within ourselves not because someone told us, but because we ourselves have tested it within our own environment and feel it to be true. So that regardless of the situation you act in this manner and not regress.

TLDR: Guy who is deployed, took the pill and had an epiphany and is sharing that the red pill for him is 4 things. Be Stronger, Be Smarter, Be Social, and Demand Excellence from yourself in every moment.