Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend, who is also a coach. I shared what I’m doing with her, and she invited me to get even more specific with my work and my target.
After letting that conversation percolate overnight, I woke up this morning with the phrase “word warrior” in mind. At first, that phrase didn’t settle well for me. I am a reluctant warrior. I’m someone seeks peaceful resolutions, rather than military resolutions. I do recognize there are times when a warrior is needed. Times when we need to stand up for the truth and the life that we want to be living.
Being a warrior is something that comes at a cost. Going to battle means putting myself at risk. More importantly, it means putting someone else at risk. I’m not comfortable with that. As I write this, I realize that the battle doesn’t need to be fought against someone else. The battle can be fought against something. I fought a mighty war against depression.
Some battles I won. Some battles I suffered temporary defeats.
Being a word warrior who fights against depression is something I can stand behind. A cause I am ready to fight for.
When I sat down this morning, as is my custom, I did a soul scribble looking at that phrase. I put my attention on “word warrior,” closed my eyes and scribbled. Whe I looked up, the first thing I saw was a heart. Looking behind the heart, I saw a warrior.
A word warrior doesn’t fight with guns or missiles. A word warrior fights with their heart.
A word warrior connects with their heart and uses their story, and their words, to create a brighter world.
A word warrior fights with love. A word warrior gives their heart to the battle in which they’re engaged.
As I reflected on the soul scribble in front of me, the words helmet, buckler, and shield came to mind. Familiar words, and yet I didn’t remember the source. Google led me to the hymn, We Are All Enlisted.
Soldiers in the army,
There’s a bright crown in store;
We shall win and wear it by and by.
Haste to the battle, quick to the field;
Truth is our helmet, buckler, and shield.
It’s a nice rallying cry for truth.
All this thinking about word warrior got me thinking about the word conquer. A word that carries with it images of invasion and oppression. When I looked up the word’s etymology, though, I found something different.
Conquer comes from the Latin, com- (with or together) plus quer (to seek, gain). Further down that path query comes from the Latin quaere “to ask, inquire.” It has the added footnote, “Query stands for a question asked without force, a point about which one would like to be informed.”
A word warrior then isn’t seeking to conquer and invade and oppress. A word warrior is seeking, inquiring. They are led forward by a question. A quest.
Armed with this insight, I was beginning to feel better about the idea of being a word warrior.
But my search wasn’t over. I went to Unsplash and searched for an image to go along with this post. I came across an image of someone in classic warrior yoga pose. Each morning I do three warrior poses. Each more difficult than the last. The warrior three pose took me months to do for even a few seconds. Now I do it regularly, still with a bit of wobble.
I like the connection between warrior and yoga, a practice that requires one to get better and better.
As a word warrior, I seek to improve day by day.
As I close out my day having thought about being a word warrior, the idea is settling on me more and more.
How about you? Are you a word warrior? Are you someone who seeks to brighten the world with your words?