The Warrior Within

When life knocks you to your knees—when duty, heartbreak, or change tests every ounce of your endurance—how do you stand back up? In The Warrior Within, D.J. Vanas powerfully argues that we all have a warrior spirit within us, a spirit rooted not in violence or conquest, but in service, strength, humility, and continuous growth. Drawing from his Ottawa tribal heritage and two decades in the U.S. Air Force, Vanas contends that becoming a modern warrior means aligning your courage and compassion to serve others while maintaining balance and purpose in yourself.

Vanas’s mission throughout the book is to redefine what it means to be a warrior. Far from the myth of the fearless, stoic fighter glorified by pop culture, the true warrior is deeply human—someone who commits to service, actively cultivates courage, and continues to grow throughout life’s toughest seasons. Warriors fight for something larger than themselves but must first tend their own fire, their own health, and their sense of meaning. Otherwise, they risk becoming martyrs running on empty.

The True Nature of the Warrior Spirit

Vanas begins by contrasting the popular “Hollywood warrior” archetype with the authentic Indigenous warrior ethos. A true warrior, he writes, is not born from domination or ego but from service, love, and continual development. Warriors are not perfect—they feel fear, doubt, pain, and loss—but they press forward anyway because they understand that victory lies in effort, not outcome. Their greatest strength is their commitment to contribute, not their invincibility. As he reminds readers through personal experiences and tribal stories, the path of a warrior is not about aggression—it’s about disciplined compassion.

A Book About Service, Strength, and Growth

Across ten chapters, Vanas builds a practical and spiritual roadmap for unlocking your inner warrior. Each section blends storytelling, real-world examples, and Indigenous wisdom into timeless principles. Early chapters like “Live Off the Land” teach you to work with what you have—your time, energy, and personal gifts—rather than waiting for ideal circumstances. “Prepare for Battle” helps you define your purpose through values and vision, echoing classics like Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, emphasizing that clear purpose is the heart of endurance. In “Count Coup on the Enemy,” he challenges you to confront fear with action and humility, turning pain into growth rather than paralysis.

Middle chapters pivot to sustaining strength in modern life. “Keep the Fires Lit” explores motivation and mental toughness, teaching how self-care, joy, and discipline sustain one’s inner flame. “Read the Signs and Stay Vigilant” introduces a principle of lifelong learning inspired by Native warriors’ ability to read patterns in nature—a reminder that survival depends on staying humble and observant. Vanas ties this to modern work culture, arguing that personal and professional excellence arises from continuous improvement, not overconfidence.

Facing Stress, Change, and the Wolf at the Door

Later chapters deepen into resilience, using vivid metaphors like “the wolf at the door” to describe change, loss, and crisis. In “Use Your Medicine to Heal,” Vanas reframes self-care as gathering spiritual medicine—everything from sleep to laughter to music—that renews the body and spirit. In “What to Do When the Wolf Comes,” he draws on Indigenous teachings of adaptability and Native American history to show how true resilience means flowing with change rather than fighting it. Pain, he says, comes to teach and transform, not destroy. By facing rather than fleeing from loss, we grow our warrior spirit’s humility and strength.

Becoming an Elder and Leaving a Legacy

The book culminates in “Transform into an Elder,” urging readers to see maturity not as decline but as legacy. Warriors never retire—they become elders, mentors, and storytellers, passing on their wisdom to strengthen the tribe. Through figures like Grandma Genny of the Red Cliff Chippewa and elder mentors from his own life, Vanas illustrates how resilience and generosity make one’s later years a time of sharing, not fading. Becoming an elder means owning your story—the victories and the pain—and using it to light other people’s paths.

Why the Warrior Within Matters

Ultimately, The Warrior Within is a manifesto for finding strength, balance, and purpose in an age of distraction and burnout. Vanas’s voice is equal parts coach, storyteller, and elder-in-training. He teaches that service and self-care are not opposites but depend on each other. “We can’t serve others if we’re in crisis ourselves,” he warns. The book’s heart beats with the conviction that warriors are not relics of the past but models for tomorrow—people who stay humble in learning, resilient in hardship, and generous in spirit. In a world obsessed with speed and success, Vanas reminds you that your greatest victory is in how you live, serve, and heal.

D.J. Vanas begins by dismantling the illusions about what being a warrior means. We tend to imagine a swaggering hero who doesn’t falter or fear—but as Vanas learned during his years in the Air Force, that image is both dangerous and incomplete. Real warriors, he insists, aren’t superhuman—they’re ordinary people choosing extraordinary service.

Redefining the Warrior

The warrior is not a fighter for personal power. The difference, as Vanas frames it, lies in purpose: a fighter battles for himself; a warrior fights for the tribe. In Indigenous tradition, warriors were protectors and providers, guided more by values than by violence. They embodied humility, service, courage, and love for their people. That perspective transforms the meaning of strength—true warriors don’t dominate; they deliver.

Vanas shares stories of modern warriors like Nancy Griffin, a Saginaw Chippewa woman who rose from an abusive marriage to a leadership role in rehabilitation counseling. Nancy fought her circumstances to become an advocate for her people, turning personal survival into community service. She exemplifies Vanas’s conviction: a warrior’s greatest victory is not self-conquest but contribution.

The Principles of a True Warrior

1. Service over self—A warrior’s purpose is to serve others, just as Indigenous ogichidaa did for their tribe.
2. Love leads the charge—Without love, efforts burn out. Love fuels endurance.
3. Humility over arrogance—Admitting vulnerability keeps you teachable and grounded.
4. Surrender, but never quit—Surrender means releasing control; quitting means abandoning your purpose. Warriors may lose battles, but not resolve.

Vanas’s story of boxing at the Air Force Academy perfectly captures this spirit. He broke his nose before the championship and couldn’t compete—but his coach recognized the heart behind his effort, reminding him that victory lives in dedication, not domination. This story echoes the Warrior Creed of the Special Olympics that Vanas quotes: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

The Warrior’s Alignment

Above all, Vanas cautions against the seductive imbalance between intention and execution. Many servants, he observes, burn out because they try to help others while neglecting their own health and peace. Service must come from strength, not sacrifice. “We can’t be warriors when we’re falling apart,” he writes, urging you to find inner alignment so your actions honor—not drain—your purpose.

Vanas teaches that warriors are resourceful by necessity. Native peoples thrived through ingenuity—turning “sticks and rocks into tools, and lack into abundance.” The modern equivalent, he says, is learning to create impact with whatever resources, time, and talent you already possess.

Three Vital Resources

Every warrior, he notes, has three universal resources: time, energy, and personal gifts. Time is finite and, once spent, never returns. Energy must be renewed daily through rest, nourishment, and focus. And your personal “medicine bag”—your accumulated skills, experiences, values, and strengths—forms your unique arsenal for service.

LeAnn Thieman’s story from Operation Babylift in Vietnam perfectly illustrates this principle. Armed with near-zero resources, Thieman and a small crew managed to rescue hundreds of orphaned children from war zones using cardboard boxes, VW vans, and courage. Her ability to act with determination rather than despair reminds readers that the question is not “Do I have what I need?” but “How can I use what I have well?”

Modern Tools, Ancient Wisdom

Vanas connects this to the broader modern context: people today are surrounded by information and technology yet frequently paralyzed by comparison, lack of confidence, or the mirage of scarcity. Courageous warriors, by contrast, take inventory of what’s already in their “camp”—their abilities, networks, and opportunities—and work with it. It’s an attitude of creativity over complaint.

Practical Applications

• Guard your time as sacred—spend more on people and goals that matter.
• Protect and replenish your energy—sleep, exercise, and laughter are medicines, not luxuries.
• Inventory your personal gifts—then use them fully in your role and community.

The core message is simple but transformative: you already have enough to begin. Like the farmers in Japan who turned damaged strawberries into ice cream innovation after a tsunami, warriors adapt and create value from adversity. It’s not about abundance of resources—it’s about abundance of resourcefulness.

In warrior tradition, you never enter battle without clarity of purpose. Vanas extends this idea to modern life: before you can serve well, you must know what you stand for and where you’re going. Clarity begins with identifying your values and crafting a compelling vision.

Defining What You Value

Your values are your internal compass. For Indigenous peoples, this includes courage, honesty, humility, and respect. Vanas uses vivid Native stories—like the sweat lodge cleansing ritual—to illustrate that vision arises only after purification of doubt, fear, and regret. He reminds readers that saying yes to everything is like “packing the chicken sink on a tiny airplane”—overloaded and directionless. True focus means saying no strategically.

Vision as the First Creation

“Sight is what we see with our eyes; vision is what we see with our minds,” he writes. Vision precedes creation, just as Native vision quests helped seekers discover their life purpose. Today, that might mean mapping out a dream project, career, or personal mission that aligns with your chosen values. Julie Garreau’s transformation of an abandoned bar into the Cheyenne River Youth Project—now a thriving community hub—is Vanas’s favorite example of how steadfast vision can transform despair into legacy.

Fending off Vision Killers

Fear, criticism, and misplaced priorities are the enemies of vision. Through stories like astronaut John Herrington’s childhood dream of spaceflight, Vanas shows how persistence and mentorship overcome mockery and rejection. Sequoyah’s creation of the Cherokee alphabet despite ridicule further proves that vision requires loyalty to your purpose more than to public opinion. In his words, “There will always be a knuckleheaded naysayer—don’t let them talk you out of your vision.”

When we align our time, effort, and energy with our values and vision, life feels less like chaos and more like ceremony. Vanas’s advice echoes Stephen Covey’s timeless principle: “Begin with the end in mind.”

Fear is inevitable, but cowardice is optional. Vanas reframes courage not as the absence of fear but as the decision to act despite it. Drawing from both his own jump-school experiences and Indigenous “counting coup” traditions, he shows that bravery is a skill, not a gift.

Counting Coup: Facing Fear Head-On

For the Plains tribes, the bravest act in battle wasn’t killing an enemy—it was touching one with a coup stick and choosing mercy over murder. That act embodied supreme courage and mastery of fear. Vanas urges readers to do the same each day: approach what scares you, tap it on the shoulder, and act anyway. Each victory, he explains, trains your courage muscles for the next.

Pain as Process

Warriors endure pain with purpose. Vanas differentiates between pain that purifies (growth, discipline, training) and pain that poisons (worry, regret, resentment). Pain isn’t meant to be avoided but understood. “Pain with a purpose is process,” he writes, “pain without purpose is just pain.” By embracing hardship instead of running from it, you strengthen emotional armor and build wisdom.

Borrowing Courage

Through firefighter Shane Coyne’s story of battling the deadly Waldo Canyon Fire, Vanas explains how collective courage creates resilience. When one’s strength falters, teammates supply borrowed courage—proof that warriors never fight alone. Similarly, Sergeant Alex’s battle with PTSD after Iraq shows that asking for help is itself an act of bravery, not weakness.

Fear, Vanas concludes, dissolves when you focus on action. As in Krishnamurti’s or Brené Brown’s teachings, the lesson is universal: courage is not loud or spectacular—it’s the quiet, persistent decision to keep showing up.

Once fear is faced, movement must follow. Vanas believes consistent, disciplined action is the soul of achievement. Building on the warrior model of “attack, withdraw, regroup, and attack again,” he shows how persistence transforms overwhelming goals into manageable victories.

Small Steps, Big Victories

His harrowing hike on Kauai’s Kalalau Trail—navigating cliffs, injury, and exhaustion—becomes a metaphor for perseverance. Each painful step kept him moving toward safety. “The only way out,” he writes, “was through.” This echoes Admiral McRaven’s Make Your Bed: greatness comes from small deliberate acts done daily, especially when conditions are uncomfortable.

Discipline and Focus

Discipline, Vanas explains, is a form of self-respect—it’s doing what must be done, even when you’d rather not. He likens it to a fireplace: if contained and directed, it warms and empowers; left untended, it burns out or spirals uncontrollably. Consistency builds momentum, and momentum, once earned, becomes self-sustaining confidence.

Dr. Katherine Campbell’s journey from poverty to a PhD and leadership in Indian education embodies this. Despite early setbacks and racism, she took daily, disciplined steps toward her dream of serving her tribe. “Help shows up when you do the work,” she told Vanas—a line that could headline the chapter itself.

Momentum Sustains the Fire

Drawing parallels to the Navajo weavers who intentionally weave imperfection into art, Vanas reminds us that nothing needs to be perfect—it just needs to keep going. In momentum lies magic: confidence grows, opportunities appear, and transformation unfolds one brave step at a time.

The warrior spirit burns like fire—it can illuminate or consume. Vanas argues that motivation must be deliberately maintained, not assumed. “You can’t just put a log on your fire once and expect it to last.”

Fear vs. Joy as Motivators

He contrasts two motivational forces: fear and joy. Fear-based motivation—like fleeing the shark he once saw while scuba diving—works briefly but drains energy and creates anxiety. Motivation by joy—fueled by purpose, gratitude, and service—lasts. For instance, an airman Vanas met described refueling planes not as a tedious job but as “bringing troops home.” The meaning transformed the work into motivation. Meaning fuels endurance far better than pressure.

Practical Firekeeping

• Reconnect with your tribe: Stay surrounded by people who inspire and hold you accountable.
• Revisit your values and victories: They remind you that effort matters more than outcome.
• Raise your standards: Growth stops when challenge disappears—aim higher to avoid stagnation.
• Celebrate your wins: Rewarding progress keeps the warrior spirit alive.

Quoting leadership scholar Kevin Basik, Vanas insists that motivation declines when belief (“I can do it”), outcome (“It’s worth it”), or value (“It matters”) drops to zero. Maintaining these perceptions through community, clarity, and curiosity is mental fitness training for the modern warrior.

The message is timeless: discipline builds structure, but joy sustains it. As elders say, “Keep your fire fed.”

True warriors never stop learning. In today’s changing world, Vanas writes, “School is never out.” The chapter urges readers to emulate ancient warriors who trained relentlessly, read their environment, and stayed humble in skill and spirit.

Lessons from the Lynx

Using the example of the Montana lynx—a master hunter facing extinction due to over-specialization—Vanas warns against complacency. The lynx’s singular focus became its downfall, while adaptable cousins thrived. The lesson: rigid expertise is brittle. Flexibility, curiosity, and humility sustain survival in every “ecosystem,” from business to healthcare.

The Warrior’s Toolkit for Lifelong Growth

• Stay humble: Arrogance dulls learning; humility keeps the doors open.
• Observe deeply: Slow down and notice patterns—like tribal scouts tracking through signs of nature.
• Ask better questions: Deep conversations spark growth; gossip drains it.
• Tribe up: Learning is communal; greatness grows in company, not isolation.

Whether it’s learning from setbacks, playing to practice new skills, or finding mentors at every age, Vanas underscores an enduring truth: warriors stay relevant because they stay students of life. Continuous learning, blended with humility, is the Indigenous model of excellence.

This section transforms the idea of self-care into sacred duty. Vanas challenges the “martyr mentality” of modern service—a belief that helping others means neglecting yourself. Warriors, he reminds us, weren’t bulletproof; they used medicine to stay balanced—ceremony, rest, laughter, and community.

Redefining Stress and Recovery

Stress, he argues, is “the wolf you need.” It keeps you alert and adaptive, like the reintroduced wolves that improved Yellowstone’s ecosystem. The goal isn’t elimination but management. Through the analogy of the “three sisters garden,” Vanas shows how growth, support, and nourishment coexist when we cultivate balance in what we consume, how we live, and whom we surround ourselves with.

Three Sisters of Self-Care

• What you consume—information and energy shape your mental soil.
• Habits and practices—your daily routines either drain or restore you.
• Support and growth—surround yourself with people who elevate, not exhaust, your spirit.

Vanas’s examples—from stroke survivor Karen Goodnight to clinic CEO Robyn Sunday-Allen—reveal that thriving servants prioritize rest, humor, and relationships. Self-care, then, isn’t indulgence; it’s the warrior’s most unselfish act.

Change and loss are the wolves every warrior must face. Vanas uses personal tragedy—the death of his infant son—as a profound lesson in humility, grief, and transformation. His message: pain will come, but you choose whether it becomes bitterness or wisdom.

The Six Stays of Adaptation

Vanas distills resilience into six principles: stay philosophical, calm, grounded, focused, flexible, and connected. Like rivers carving new paths, warriors adapt rather than resist. From the “char people” of Bangladesh—who rebuild new homes each flood season—to Native history’s rapid adaptation to horses and rifles, Vanas shows that survival depends on flow.

Ceremony as Transformation

Through his “wiping of the tears” ceremony with elder Earl Meshigaud, Vanas rediscovers healing through surrender. Real courage, he learns, is vulnerability—the humility to ask for help. Ceremony, whether sweat, song, or therapy, becomes a bridge between loss and rebirth. Like Chief Flying Hawk’s saying, “Change is life,” Vanas reminds us that endings are invitations to begin again.

In today’s world of upheaval, The Warrior Within calls readers to transmute grief into gratitude and chaos into clarity. When the wolf comes, you don’t run—you stand, learn, and grow stronger.

In his closing lessons, Vanas celebrates the ultimate evolution of the warrior: the elder. Elders don’t just grow old—they grow wise through sharing what they’ve lived. Warriors never retire; they rise into stewardship, mentoring, and storytelling.

Traits of the Living Elder

Through figures like Grandma Genny of the Red Cliff Chippewa—who earned a college degree in her sixties and taught until her eighties—Vanas identifies four traits of true elders: focus, fitness, freedom, and fun. These individuals live with purpose, move their bodies daily, release resentment, and delight in life. Age amplifies, not diminishes, their warrior spirit.

Mentorship as Ceremony

Elders nurture the next generation through active mentorship—“come do this with me,” not “watch what I do.” Like the passing of the fire, it’s relational, humble, and hands-on. From HR leader Herb Clah Jr.’s experience under his mentor Max to the accountant Glynn Alexander’s impact on Vanas himself, mentorship transmits both knowledge and belief—fuel for younger warriors.

Turning Pain into Wisdom

Finally, he invites readers to embrace not just victories but scars. Painful experiences, when processed, feed the collective medicine of the tribe. Every challenge survived becomes a story that guides others. “Your hardest chapters,” Vanas writes, “might be the very wisdom someone else needs to survive their own.” To become an elder is to live as proof that gratitude, humor, and growth can outlast any storm.