“All I have to do is fall out. I can get my old job back.”

This exact thought crossed my mind near the end of my initial physical fitness test. I was in the final part of the test, where I had to run many laps in the grass of a huge field. 

It was day two of OCS, and I had been awake most of the previous night. My 53 other classmates and I had a big US Marine Corps welcome the day before. I was afraid, tired, and not feeling well. I was 26 years old, and I had spent the last four years as an insurance adjuster. I was accustomed to working banker’s hours. I spent many evenings at post-work happy hours with my friends. I had a gaggle of friends, a company car and was well paid out of college. 

Insurance adjuster Dennis needed a change. I watched Top Gun too many times. I felt it was my last chance to do something I thought would make me feel alive and meaningful – flying in the US Navy. I wanted to be Goose – F-14 Radar Intercept Officer. Maverick was too cool for me. I didn’t understand how helicopters stayed in the air, so it was F-14s or bust.

Churchill said it best – “when going through hell, keep going.” He was right. I’m not sure it was hell, but at the time it seemed close. I changed my entire life to come to OCS. 

I didn’t stop. I picked up speed. It’s was only a mile and 1/2 and I watched many of my classmates start to round the bend for the finish.

I gasped through the finish line. A cluster of fierce USMC Drill Instructors greeted me. They came at me like a pod of orcas hunting a seal. It was a blur and I just screamed “AYE SIR!!” as my default response as I did a lot of pushups and leg lift exercises . I do remember someone telling me that I needed to find some “guts.” They said I needed them if I wanted to pass this course. That orca pod was correct. 

It was game on at that point as I knew I had to press through each day. Hour to hour for some time until it became easier and routine. 

I graduated on that same field a few months later. I was more fit, more tough, and more confident. I was also filled with pride. My past life had banker’s hours and happy hours. The work was predictable and now seems distant and disconnected. I knew I was onto something special – my calling.

If I had fallen out on that run, they would have sent me to weeks of fitness training. Or, they would have kicked me out of the program. I was already pushing the maximum age to commission as an officer and start flight school. I might have missed that cutoff age to start flight school. I would not be in my current position today. I would not have experienced all the other life stuff I needed to learn. Because of the rich and complex webs in life, I would not have met my now wife.

My top lesson earned that day stayed with me:

⭐️Don’t quit on stuff you really want to do. You may not understand exactly why you wanted it during the grind, but there was a reason. Trust your past self, who set you on the path. Keep pressing through hell; keep going. Don’t malinger in it. What you want is waiting for you.

Have challenges shaped your journey in unexpected ways? Share your story in the comments below—i’d love to hear from you!