My grandfather who saw combat during WWII wrote about the spectacle of dead soldiers being found with chocolate bars or pieces of bread stuffed in their pockets. He said that he always ate 100% of the rations he was given, as soon as he was given them, and saved nothing for later. When I first read that as a teenager, I assumed he was just making a quip about not wanting to be the idiot who "got it" with a half-eaten Hershey bar jammed in his jacket that he never got to enjoy, because he was saving it for a "later" that never came. But as an adult I realized the deeper psychological importance: he was accepting the reality of his situation with ZERO comforting illusions. In the purest Nietzschean, amor fati, radical-acceptance sense. Ironic, given that he was a staunch Catholic. Nevertheless I see the genius of it. Because subconsciously, saving a bit of chocolate or wrapping some bread in a bit of foil and stuffing it in your pocket for later -- in that situation -- is a way to hide from fear by lying to yourself. Convincing yourself that you are guaranteed a tomorrow. That the future is something that exists. But the future isn't real. Only the NOW is real. And staying radically present in the NOW is the only way to deal with extreme stress. It's a lesson I treasure and draw inspiration from in tough moments. All of this is connected.