Narrator: A young man is about to face Hell Week, the infamous crucible of Navy SEAL training. It’s a period of non-stop, brutal physical and mental torment designed to break even the strongest candidates. But this young man carries an extra burden: just one week prior, his mother died suddenly from a brain aneurysm. His mentor, author Brent Gleeson, reaches out to the legendary SEAL David Goggins for a message of support. Goggins’s reply is not one of comfort. He tells the young man to pray for bad weather, to hope for the worst the instructors can throw at him. He tells him that to get through Hell, he must become the devil himself. This raw, unflinching mindset is the core of Brent Gleeson’s book, Embrace the Suck: The Navy SEAL Way to an Extraordinary Life. It argues that the secret to resilience isn’t about avoiding pain, but about running toward it, using it as fuel to transform your entire existence.

Narrator: The book opens with a fundamental distinction, captured in a Buddhist proverb: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” Gleeson argues that modern life teaches us to flee from any form of discomfort, but this avoidance is precisely what keeps us weak and stagnant. True resilience isn't an innate trait; it’s a skill forged in the fires of adversity. It emerges when we stop seeing pain as a stop sign and start seeing it as a signpost.

Gleeson illustrates this with his own experience in BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training. During Hell Week, he and his classmates were subjected to “surf torture”—lying in the frigid Pacific Ocean until their bodies shook uncontrollably with hypothermia. An instructor barked at them, “Gentlemen, take all that pain, shaking, and cold and turn it into aggression. Let it drive you.” In that moment, Gleeson understood. The pain wasn’t the enemy; it was a source of energy. By consciously reframing the agonizing cold as fuel, he could channel it into the focus and aggression needed to survive. This is the essence of "embracing the suck": choosing to transform a negative stimulus into a positive, driving force. It’s a mental alchemy that turns the inevitable pain of life into the optional suffering of defeat or the chosen pathway to growth.

Narrator: A core tenet of the SEAL mindset is radical ownership. It’s easy to blame circumstances, bad luck, or other people for our failures. Gleeson asserts that this victim mentality is a surefire path to mediocrity. Winning isn't about the hand you're dealt; it's about how you play the cards.

No story in the book embodies this principle more powerfully than that of fellow SEAL, Jason Redman. In 2007, while on a mission in Iraq, Redman’s team was ambushed. He was hit by machine-gun fire, taking rounds to the face and arm that nearly tore him apart. He survived, but his journey was just beginning. At the hospital in Bethesda, facing dozens of surgeries and a grueling recovery, Redman made a choice. He refused to be a victim. He created a bright orange sign and hung it on his hospital room door. It read, in part: “Attention to all who enter here. If you are coming into this room with sorrow or to feel sorry for my wounds, go elsewhere… This room you are about to enter is a room of fun, optimism, and intense rapid regrowth. If you are not prepared for that, go elsewhere.”

Redman was dealt one of the worst hands imaginable, yet he chose to control the one thing he could: his mindset. He didn't deny his pain; he defined the terms of his recovery. This story illustrates that adversity is a constant, but our response is a choice. We can either be defined by our setbacks or use them as a platform for demonstrating what we’re truly made of.

Narrator: In the chaos of life, especially when facing extreme challenges, a strong set of core values acts as a non-negotiable compass. Gleeson argues that without clearly defined principles, we are rudderless, easily swayed by temptation or pressure. Values aren't just nice-to-have ideals; they are the bedrock of an resilient life.

This lesson was seared into Gleeson’s memory by a tragedy during his own Hell Week. His class leader was a man named John Skop, a respected officer who embodied the quiet professional ethos of the SEALs. As Hell Week wore on, Skop developed severe pneumonia but refused to quit, continuing to lead his men. During a brutal pool exercise, Skop, weakened and exhausted, collapsed and sank. He died a few hours later. The instructors secured Hell Week, and the surviving candidates were left with a mixture of relief and profound guilt.

John Skop’s death was a stark reminder of the ultimate sacrifice, but it also became a catalyst. It reinforced for Gleeson and his classmates the values they were fighting for: honor, commitment, and selfless service. They understood that their mission was now bigger than themselves; it was also for John. Gleeson uses this powerful story to drive home the point that living a values-driven life gives you a purpose strong enough to endure any "suck." When your "why" is powerful enough, you can bear almost any "how."

Narrator: Gleeson introduces a vivid metaphor for the constant battle against short-term gratification: the "Temptation Tiger." This creature represents all the distractions—procrastination, indulgence, laziness—that lure us away from our long-term goals. Giving in, even for a moment, can have devastating consequences.

To illustrate this, he tells the chilling true story of Vladimir Markov, a poacher in the Russian Far East in 1997. Driven by greed, Markov shot and wounded a massive Amur tiger and stole its kill. This was a fatal mistake. The tiger, an animal known for its intelligence and memory, didn't just flee. It began to hunt Markov. Over the next 48 hours, the tiger systematically stalked him. It found his cabin, destroyed everything that carried his scent, and then waited. When Markov returned, the tiger ambushed, killed, and ate him.

This gruesome tale serves as a powerful allegory. The Temptation Tiger, like the Amur tiger, is patient and relentless. When we give in to our baser instincts—our own form of poaching against our better selves—we invite disaster. Gleeson argues that self-control is like a muscle. It must be exercised. This requires defining clear goals, visualizing success, and, most importantly, proactively removing temptations from your environment. You don't defeat the tiger by fighting it when it’s at your door; you defeat it by never letting it get close in the first place.

Narrator: In a world obsessed with success, Gleeson champions the necessity of failure. He states bluntly, “If you ain’t failin’, you ain’t tryin’.” Failure is not the opposite of success; it is an integral part of the process. The fear of failure, he explains, is what paralyzes us, causing us to play it safe and live within the confines of our comfort zone.

Gleeson shares a personal story of a humiliating failure. After leaving the SEALs, he was invited to speak at a major conference. Sharing the stage with a world-renowned speaker, he was nervous and unprepared. After his speech, he sought feedback from the editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine, who told him bluntly that his speech was not good. Gleeson was initially angry and defensive, but he quickly realized the feedback was a gift. That failure became the catalyst for him to develop a rigorous preparation process, transforming him into a confident and sought-after speaker.

He couples this with a tactical lesson from fellow SEAL Mark Owen. While on a climbing course, Owen froze on a rock face, paralyzed by fear. The instructor climbed up to him and gave him simple advice: “Stay in your three-foot world… Only focus on what’s in your immediate control. Ignore everything else.” By narrowing his focus to his next handhold and foothold, Owen was able to conquer the climb. This "three-foot world" mindset is the key to navigating failure. When you fail, don't get overwhelmed by the big picture. Focus on the immediate, controllable actions you can take to learn, adapt, and move forward.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from Embrace the Suck is that resilience is not a gift bestowed upon a select few; it is a skill that is earned through deliberate, conscious effort. It is the product of a series of choices: the choice to see pain as a pathway, to take ownership of your circumstances, to live by your values, to exercise self-discipline, and to reframe failure as feedback. The book is a manual for building this skill, not by seeking an easier life, but by developing the strength to endure a difficult one.

The ultimate challenge Gleeson leaves us with is a provocative one. It asks us to look at our own lives and identify the discomfort we are actively avoiding. What is the "suck" that we run from? Because, as the Navy SEALs have proven time and again, it is often in that very place of pain and adversity that the seeds of our most extraordinary life are waiting to be found.