A War Against The Passions.

I’m about to enter a war against the passions. A period of ascetic struggle.

Over the last few weeks, during some meaningful celebrations and milestones in my life, I intentionally allowed myself to loosen some of the discipline I normally maintain. Not because I had fallen. Not because I had lost control. Quite the opposite. I made the choice knowingly and willingly. I allowed myself certain freedoms, and in doing so I was reminded how quickly old habits and familiar temptations wait for an invitation back into our lives.

What struck me most was not weakness, but awareness. The realization that discipline is not something you achieve once and possess forever. It must be tested. It must be renewed. It must be guarded. It must be chosen again and again.

As I get older, I find myself less interested in conquering the world and more interested in conquering myself. The war against the passions is not fought against other people. It is fought within ourselves. It is the daily struggle against anger, pride, lust, vanity, gluttony, distraction, and all the little compromises that slowly pull us away from who we are called to be.

This is not simply about giving things up. It is about replacing them with something greater. Replacing anger with patience. Pride with humility. Lust with purity. Distraction with purpose. Weakness with strength. It is about becoming better husbands, fathers, leaders, friends, and Christians.

Over the last few years I’ve had my business destroyed, my reputation attacked, faced financial ruin and I’ve stared into some very dark places. I’ve experienced loss, uncertainty, fear, and moments where it would have been easy to become bitter, angry, resentful, or simply give up.

Instead, those experiences taught me something unexpected. The greatest battles in life are rarely the ones happening around us. They are the ones happening within us.

Why I believe in always turning a negative into a positive.

It is easy to point fingers at enemies, governments, corporations, politicians, rivals, and critics. It is much harder to look in the mirror and confront your own anger, your own pride, your own weaknesses, and your own addictions.

Sometimes I think about the Apostles, the martyrs, and the saints who carried this faith through beatings, prisons, exile, torture, and death so that it could reach us today. Then I look at the sacrifices being asked of me. A drink. A cigarette. A vice. A temptation. A bad habit. And I realize the burden I am being asked to carry is small compared to the burden they carried for us.

The saints were not saints because they never fell. They were saints because they kept getting back up. They repented. They returned. They kept walking toward God.

The older I get, the more convinced I become that the goal is not pleasure, wealth, status, or applause. The goal is freedom. A man who cannot master his desires will eventually be mastered by them.

For me, this means returning to structure and discipline. More prayer. More fasting. More reflection. Less noise. Less distraction. No alcohol. No smoking. A renewed focus on strengthening both body and soul.

I’ve seen enough darkness to know where that road leads.

I’d rather walk toward the light.

If these words resonate with you, join me. Tell me what passion, habit, weakness, or temptation you are declaring war on, and let us walk this path together.

The battlefield isn’t out there.

It’s within.