Alone

 I am in the Zone all the time. 

There is no one coming to save you. 

In life we are ultimately alone. You are the only one who can act on your behalf. Social, familial and community ties provide encouragement and consequences for us to act a certain way. But in the end it is only us who can decide what we will do, and us alone who can do it. 

Free will exists, but some have more of it than others. That is to say that some have a more powerful grip on themselves or do not allow obligations or society to exercise such a strong grip over them. The temptation to allow the community to guide one’s life and actions is overwhelming for many, it is just so easy. Even those with a strong spirit often follow these paths out of convenience or personal weakness. 

The ability to rule oneself ennobles man above anything. No one is going to help you. You are in the Zone and only you decide how you will respond. “The Zone” refers to a colloquial name given by prisoners of the gulag system in the USSR to the area in which their brutal violent imprisonment occurred. I use this to refer to the modern world, more specifically the material world of the west. This “Zone” is much less violent and harsh, but it is infinitely more insidious and corrupting. 

Constantly whispering sweetly in your ear to take the easy path, to relax, to indulge. It is a vicious fight against the neverending encouragement to comfort. I have failed many times, and I know many great men who have failed too. No one is there to save you from slipping slowly into an easy doom. 

One can ward themselves, good friends of strong character can encourage, inspire, and even intervene when troubles come but they cannot do it for you. The individual acts alone of their own will. Good friends should be sought and kept to stoke the fire, a lone branch may be broken but a bundle is robust. Yet if you truly surrender to weakness and comfort they cannot save you. There is no one coming to save you. 

When you are alone. When there is no one watching and no obligation to resist the sweet gentle comfort. This is the Zone. Instead of violence and starvation it is a slow and easy descent into numb suffering. A constant agony kept dull with a trickle of pleasure. If the pain was too sharp or the pleasure too euphoric it might break the cycle and drive action. But with both just enough to drive the other, pain to seek the pleasure and pleasure to numb the pain, they can drag even the strongest down into desensitized despair. 

No amount of outside pressure can completely protect from this, the agency of the individual is supreme. There is no one else. There is nowhere else. The Zone is everywhere. It does not need walls because you build the walls yourself. Every instance of giving in adds another stone to keep you in. 

Resistance is possible. You have to resist. You must never surrender. There will be mistakes. Major failures, great pain and suffering and defeats but there is no other option than to keep fighting for yourself. There is no one coming to save you. Remember where you are and act accordingly. Lash out with rage and hatred, dig deep to find the strength to act. I am in the Zone all the time. Always weary, always ready. Rising from defeats with doubled efforts and determination. I will fail again, but I will never surrender.

Victory over this malaise of comfort-wrapped-despair is in extremes. Terrible highs and devastating lows. Real feeling, real life, in its raw and brutal reality. Seek out these extremes by any means necessary, and take heart in defeat knowing that you alone are responsible for your fate. No surrender, no quarter, no support. Victory lies within.