The hurt is worth it.

Near the end of my time in the Marine Corps, I had to have a number of surgeries. I’d torn my knees up playing football and fighting on MMA teams out of Twentynine Palms, I’d torn my abdominal wall on a deployment that needed to be fixed with a metal screen, and so forth. My mind was willing, but my body had become a liability, so the Marine Corps decided it was time to send me home just after my fifth surgery, over the span of just two years.

At the time, I felt like I was losing my family, my home, and my identity. I was a Marine, first and foremost, and I couldn’t think of another career I was built for. So, as I departed from active duty, I chose to take advantage of the new (at the time) Post 9/11 GI Bill, and enrolled at Framingham State University where I discovered a newfound love for academia. I studied like a Marine attacks a hill, pouring myself into my studies and graduating summa cum laude in just two and a half years.

From there, I started working for a defense contractor and enrolled in graduate school. Soon after finishing my master’s, I was working as a beat journalist for a prominent military news outlet. It turns out, approaching education the same way we approach any goal in the military — with a strategy in place and motivation to spare — worked pretty darn well.

And today, I run Sandboxx News — a site dedicated to shining a light on the nobility of service, to giving a voice to military families, and to becoming a resource for the military community at large. I’ve had my work read aloud by Senators in public hearings, talked veteran issues with movie stars, and written for a long list of publications… And while I’d love to tell you that it was my writing, my work ethic, or my networking skills that made it possible (though each of those may have helped) there’s one very specific moment I can credit my career in writing to: That night I laid awake in my rack on Parris Island, promising myself that I wouldn’t quit.

If you’re on the cusp of going after something bigger, something better than what you’re doing now, I know it’s scary, because I’ve been there too. But from my vantage point, some 14 years after I made the promise to myself to stick it out on Parris Island, I can tell you that it’s worth it. You’ll struggle and you’ll hurt sometimes, but that’s part of what makes serving this great nation so important. Our struggles strengthen this country. Our hurt solidifies our bond to one another, to the nation, and to our cause.

Some people may prefer the familiar comfort of their couch and Playstation games, but if you ask me, sometimes the hurt is worth it. Besides, the couch will still be there once you’re done.

This article first appeared at Sandboxx.

Image: Flickr.