A SEAL’s guide to continually maintaining hope and inspiring others

When conditions are bleak, maintaining hope is not easy: never mind inspiring hope in other people.

However, in his book, “Make Your Bed”, Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy Retired) cites spreading hope in the face of adversity as 1 of 10 lessons learned in Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALS (BUD/S) training necessary for anyone seeking to change the world.

In proving the power of inspiring others, McRaven recalls an experience during Hell Week, “the seminal event for the First Phase of SEAL training… [characterized by] no sleep and unrelenting harassment by the instructors.”

The experience is designed to mercilessly separate the strong from the weak.

McRaven remembers a pivotal moment at the Tijuana mudflats on Wednesday of Hell Week: “I was sitting in chest-deep mud, covered from head to toe with a layer of grime,” he explains. “My vision was blurred by caked-on clay, I could see only the outline of my fellow students lined up in the pit beside me.”

Unsurprisingly, he wrote, “Morale was declining rapidly.”

The suffering was testing their resolve. “This was the moment of truth for a lot of the students,” McRaven admitted. “Our hope for completing the training was fading fast.”

The instructors made a deal with the trainees: everyone could be free of the mudflats and relax for the night if only five recruits quit.

Instead of quitting, one recruit began to sing.

“The lyrics were not meant for tender ears,” joked McRaven, “but everyone knew the tune. One voice became two and two became three and then before long everyone was singing.”

“Once again,” he continued, “we had learned an important lesson: the power of one person to unite the group, the power of one person to inspire those around him, to give them hope. If that one person could sing while neck deep in mud, then so could we.”

LRHS students have not experienced the Tijuana mudflats, but are familiar with overcoming challenges and revitalizing hope.

Of his own past adversities, Jordan Olson explained, “I was with some people that were making questionable decisions that were leading down a path that is not ideal for success in life. “

Just like the trainee that started singing, Olson benefited from the inspiration of others: “People that helped me gain perspective and realize what I needed to do or fix it were my parents and my closest friends.”

He continued, “Because of their advice and time that they gave me, I’m now in a better spot and working on becoming better all around.”

Rather than a specific obstacle, Mercedes Miller admits to have wavering confidence.

She said, “Sometimes if I can’t do something even after a million tries… I worry that I never will be able to do it.”

“My parents help me maintain hope,” she said of her inspiration.

After being influenced by others in their lives, LRHS students are looking to reciprocate the inspiration: by singing when they’re up to their necks in mud and leading others to do the same.

Olson explained, “I think to inspire others is to give them a thought or idea that gives them hope for a better future.”

Spencer Miller also seeks to give others hope: “To inspire others is to influence them toward their goals and desires, simply by positively affecting your own small corner of the world.”

To conclude his message, McRaven stresses that in order to change the world, one must give others hope.

“Hope that in the very worst of time we could rise above the pain…and be strong. That we each [have] within us the ability to carry on and not only survive, but also to inspire others.”

McRaven’s lesson can be applied by SEAL trainees, students, and everyone in between.

“We will all find ourselves neck deep in mud someday,” he concluded.

“That is the time to sing loudly, to smile broadly, to lift up those around you and give them hope that tomorrow will be a better day.”