Stand Your Ground
The Question
What does it mean to Stand Your Ground? To not back down in the face of bullies or tyranny. To take a position of strength whether that strength be physical, emotional, or spiritual. To take a position of strength of character, strength of will, strength of determination for yourself and others.
I’ve been contemplating that question for quite some time now. The easy answer is that Stand Your Ground implies always fighting back. Always striking when attacked.
But that’s not the real answer. There’s a better question in here, I can feel it. It’s not just a simple easy definition. There’s something more to it.
The Core Idea
As I deconstruct the idea it’s gets richer and deeper.
Stand Your Ground = Fighting Back
Stand Your Ground = Staying Firm and not backing down
Stand Your Ground = Telling Truth to Power
Stand Your Ground = Seeing the larger Truth
Stand Your Ground = A willingness to see within oneself AND others
These are deep constructs and I’ll do a deeper dive of each one in upcoming articles. Needless to say, Stand Your Ground is a metaphor for a true belief in oneself, one’s own power, and one’s own direction.
Core Trait
Innocent and gentle souls, such as children, can’t always Stand Their Ground. Sometimes it’s because their position in society doesn’t grant them power. Sometimes it’s because of their physicality, they are too small, or too weak, or too meek. And sometimes it’s because they are naive to their ability to assert themselves.
Asserting yourself requires you to move beyond naivety or Pollyanna thoughts. Asserting your position or your rights forces you to see the world as it truly is. Not good, not bad, but with less filters than you’re used to. That’s the only way to generate the necessary force to stand strong when counteracting forces drive your way and push against the boundaries.
Being able to discover the capacity to push back. To hold strong boundaries and not collapse under the force of fire IS necessary to Stand Your Ground. What’s interesting is that these forces are not always easily identified. They are not always aggressively against your position. So being naive in recognizing these forces weakens your stance. Having the emotional wherewithal to see the hidden (and sometimes not so hidden) agendas from others is key to losing a bit of your naive point of view and a necessary action to know WHEN Standing Your Ground is appropriate. Otherwise, you’ll miss the cues to know when a storm is approaching.
This is not a pessimistic point of view about life. We don’t always have to think the worst is about to happen. It IS a realistic point of view about life. It IS a call to pay attention. Even when that attention may not present you with data that is the most appealing or fits your preferred view of the world.
What It Takes
Standing Your Ground means not backing down to the harshness of the world. It means taking responsibility for life as you have defined it and not allowing the outside forces you bump into to change you.
Standing Your Ground means to voluntarily accept the effort required to see your decisions stay unaltered. It means understanding that you, your point of view, your decisions are valid and shouldn’t be swayed by mere force. It’s not rigidity. It’s not being unwilling to change your mind or be stubborn. It IS a certainty of self-respect that you have earned or deserve a position in this life. And that no amount of external bullying, pressure, or force can or will change that.
Standing Your Ground also means being willing to accept the costs of any fight that comes your way. Whether those costs are physical, emotional or spiritual. As you stand you demand the attention and respect of your position.
It’s not about fighting everything that comes your way. It’s not about being alone (I’ll talk about I, We, Us in a later article) and facing unsurmountable odds. It’s about being smart and knowing how to pick your battles. It’s about knowing which battles are core and understanding which methods are the most effective in Standing Your Ground
Have you recently had a chance to Stand Your Ground and did? Or didn’t? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Find something important to you. An idea. A person. A place. Yourself. Your worldview. Something. And let me know what you’d be willing to Stand Your Ground for.
