You Never Know What’s Going On Inside
The trip out there felt peaceful — almost too peaceful. A small wooden boat cutting fast through the Hanoi River, weaving between thick islands of floating water hyacinth. The driver handled it with quiet precision, throttle low, eyes forward — controlled danger.
It was easy to imagine what this same stretch must have been like during the war — gunboats racing through, the kids on board caught somewhere between Rambo and fear. Trying to look fearless. Knowing better inside. Now, the air was still. Beautiful. But the history underneath it all was anything but.
I was a kid when the Vietnam War was happening. I remember seeing footage and imagining what it must’ve been like. And now, decades later, I was here — heading toward an old U.S. Marine camp that once sat on the riverbank.
The guys back then were barely men — 18 to 21 years old. It’s hard to imagine what that felt like. Thousands of miles from home. One day you’re a high school kid worrying about football or a girl or getting out of town — and the next, you’re halfway around the world, learning to fight to see the next morning. No transition. No easing in. Just a line crossed — from boy to man, in an instant.
Those guys were tough — the kind who showed up feeling invincible. But what they didn’t know was that the enemy was already under their feet. Beneath the jungle ran the Củ Chi Tunnels — a vast network stretching for miles. Three levels deep. Sleeping quarters, hospitals, kitchens — all invisible. Even the smoke from cooking fires was vented through bamboo shafts disguised as termite mounds. Waste flushed into the river only when the tide ran high. Everything about the system was designed to hide its signals.
From above, the ground looked solid. But it wasn’t. It was a hard surface covering a whole world beneath it.
The Marines called it chasing ghosts — because the enemy would strike, then vanish underground. You could empty a clip into the trees and hit nothing but air. It messes with you — being strong, trained, armed — and still realizing you’re fighting something you can’t see. Men who arrived confident left humbled. They learned what every human learns eventually: Strength isn’t always enough when the real fight is underground.
It aged them. You could see it in their faces.
Kinda puts our struggles in perspective. What do we worry about? Finances. Career. Relationships. Deadlines. You’d think they don’t wear on you the same way. But they do.
There are battles around us — and a battle within. The ghosts inside aren’t an immediate threat; they wear you down slowly. Stress invites them in. They’re called inflammation.
None of us think we have inflammation. But we do — and most of the time, it shows up as symptoms: fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, gut issues, slow recovery. Not all stress breaks you fast. Most of it ages you quietly — at the cellular level, through inflammation, oxidative stress, and metabolic slowdown. That’s why the goal isn’t to escape stress — it’s to build resilience to it. To reinforce the system before it gives out.
The body works a lot like those tunnels. Hidden systems — gut, brain, hormones, immune network — all interconnected, quietly adjusting to keep you alive under pressure. But every adjustment has a cost. You can’t feel inflammation. You can’t see the slow breakdown starting in your gut or your brain. It hides its signals. It reroutes. It compensates. Until one day, it doesn’t.
Fatigue hits. Focus slips. Drive fades. Suddenly, the ghosts show up.
That’s not weakness — that’s biology. Your body’s been fighting a hidden war under the surface, and it’s finally sending up flares.
The work now is awareness — learning to read the signals before they become symptoms. Steady energy. Clean digestion. Deep sleep. Clear focus. These are your markers of internal alignment. That’s metabolic health — when your systems run clean, efficient, and in sync. That’s stress resilience — not avoiding the fight, but training your body to recover faster from it.
And fighting it is mostly about balance. Keep the big levers steady — mindset, nutrition, movement, sleep, sunlight, connection. It’s not about living perfectly. It’s about equilibrium over time. Some bad days, some good days — trending toward center. Small, repeatable choices that keep the system honest.
A healthy system isn’t about how you look; it’s about how you run. It’s about making sure the tunnels below are clear, the pathways open, the signals honest.
That’s how you keep your edge. That’s how you extend your prime.
Because the truth is — those Marines had no choice but to fight to survive the morning. What we fight for is to thrive for decades.
Burn bright. Not out.
Thrive on,
Brian
Founder, Balanced Vibe