Envelop Your Enemies
: How to Fight the Midlife Funk Like a Zulu Warrior
Right then, chaps. Pull up a chair, pour yourselves a cuppa, and let's talk about getting older. Not the creaky knees and needing glasses bit, although that's coming, if it hasn't already. No, I'm talking about that feeling, that god-awful, sinking sensation that perhaps... just perhaps... you're a bit stuck.
We're staring down the barrel of middle age, aren't we? Forty, fifty, maybe even sixty. The youthful exuberance has, shall we say, mellowed. The promises you made to yourself in your twenties or thirties might be looking a bit dusty, tucked away in the attic of your mind. The daily grind feels a touch more... grinding. Stagnation. It's a word that chills you to the bone, isn't it? Like a Norfolk fog rolling in.
Now, you might think what the bloody hell a military strategist from Oxford knows about your midlife funk. And you'd be partly right. My days are usually spent dissecting the intricacies of ancient battles or the strategic blunders of modern conflicts. But there's a damn sight more overlap between the battlefield and life than you might think. And today, we're going to steal a page from the master tacticians – specifically, the Zulu.
Yes, the Zulu. King Shaka’s chaps. Built a fearsome fighting force from a relatively minor tribe, right? How? By being utterly ruthless and incredibly shrewd. Forget shiny armour and fancy formations for a moment. Their genius lay in envelopment.
Look at Rule 19 from our text: "ENVELOP THE ENEMY: THE ANNIHILATION STRATEGY." Sounds brutal, I know. But strip away the spears and the bloodshed, and you've got a tactical principle that can be applied to that creeping sense of being trapped you might be feeling.
The Zulu didn't give their enemy an inch. No gaps, remember? They created "relentless pressure... from all sides," dominating attention and cutting off escape routes. For you, stuck in the rut, who's the enemy? It's the inertia, the routine, the feeling that there are no options. That's your bloody perimeter to defend and, more importantly, to attack!
Think about those Zulus scouting the terrain, using ravines and tall grass to hide their movements. Are you scouting the landscape of your own life? Where are the hidden opportunities? The forgotten passions tucked away like a dusty old atlas? You have to look for them actively. Not just sit there feeling sorry for yourself, like some besieged garrison waiting for the inevitable.
Their "horns, chest, and loins" formation? That's your strategy, mate. The chest holds the line – that's your core responsibilities, the things you simply have to do. But the horns? That's the outward reach, the exploration. What interests have you let wither? What skills could you develop? Start probing, start encircling that feeling of being stuck. Don't just hold the fort, attack the bloody perimeter!
And the loins, the reserve force? This is crucial. These are the big, bold moves you keep in reserve. The career change you've been putting off, the long-held ambition you've dismissed as pie-in-the-sky nonsense. You throw those in when you sense a weakening in the enemy – that moment when you realise just how much this stagnation is costing you. Don't wait too long, though. The Zulus didn't stand around admiring the view.
The text talks about the psychological impact of envelopment. The terror, the feeling of being trapped, the loss of control. That's what the stagnation is doing to you. It's encircling your mind, making you feel like there are no options, no way out. It preys on your "preexisting, inherent vulnerabilities" – perhaps your fear of failure, your comfort with routine, your ingrained resistance to change.
But here's the kicker: the power of envelopment is ultimately psychological for you, too! You need to turn the tables. You need to make the stagnation feel surrounded. How? By creating the feeling that options are opening up, that possibilities exist. Even small actions can create this feeling. Exploring a new hobby, learning a new language, connecting with people who inspire you – these are your scouting parties, creating diversions while your main force prepares.
Remember the Assassins? They didn't need vast armies. A few well-timed blows create the feeling of vulnerability everywhere. You don't need to blow up your entire life overnight. Identify the pressure points of your stagnation – the boredom, the lack of challenge, the predictable routine. Then start delivering "well-timed blows" to those areas. Take a course, start a side project, plan a trip – anything that disrupts the predictable pattern and makes that stagnation feel vulnerable.
The text also mentions using your strengths in abundance. What are your strengths? What have you neglected? Leverage them. If you're a natural organiser, apply that to a new project outside of work. If you're a good communicator, use that to connect with new people and build a network. Don't let your strengths lie dormant while the enemy encircles you.
And finally, the Mongols. They didn't just defeat their enemies; they annihilated them by inventing a new brand of warfare. This is the ultimate envelopment: changing the rules of the game. Are you playing by the rules of your own stagnation? The predictable, rigid framework that's trapping you? Invent a new bloody framework! Go "outside their experience," as the text says. Do something unexpected, something that challenges your own assumptions about what's possible at this stage of your life.
Miyamoto Musashi said, "You must make your opponent acknowledge defeat from the bottom of his heart." Your opponent here is the inertia, the apathy, the creeping sense of being finished. You need to make it acknowledge defeat. Not just intellectually, but deep down. And the way to do that isn't by waiting for inspiration to strike or for someone else to pull you out of it. It's by getting off your arse, scouting the terrain, forming your "horns, chest, and loins," and starting to envelop that feeling of being trapped.
So, gentlemen, the battle for your middle age isn't fought with spears, but with strategy and sheer bloody-mindedness. Stop letting the stagnation surround you. Start surrounding the stagnation. Create relentless pressure, dominate its attention, and close off its access to your future. The circle of possibility is waiting for you to draw it. Now, go and bloody well draw it.
Life is a constant evolution, a dance with change that shapes who we are and where we’re headed. And just like life, this site is transforming once more. I don’t yet know where this journey will lead, but that’s the beauty of it—each shift brings us closer to where we’re meant to be.
Change is not a sign of uncertainty, but of growth. It’s the path we must take to uncover our true purpose. And while we may not always understand where life is guiding us, it’s in the act of seeking, of embracing the flow, that we discover our direction.
Imagine life as a river, with its tides, currents, and eddies. If we fight against the current, we tire and falter. But if we surrender to it, letting it guide us, we might just find ourselves exactly where we’re meant to be.
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