What’s The Difference Between a Warrior and a Soldier? Which Should We Aim To Be More Like??

A soldier fights out of obligation. He fights so that others won’t need to. He fights because something hangs in the balance if he loses. A soldier always has something to lose.

Soldiers fight often out of necessity: There is a mission, a community or nation to protect, and stakes that affect many beyond the individual. This sense of necessity shapes the way soldiers approach battle.

A warrior fights because he simply desires to. He fights to grow stronger and test the capabilities he possesses and to push his limits. He can have things hanging in the balance if he loses but the stakes are never nearly as high as for a soldier. A warrior typically is fighting for self motivated reasons. They seek growth, glory, or challenge; for them, fighting is about self-realization or proving themselves, not simply winning at all costs.

Warriors have the tendency to be over confident at times, due to their excitement at the opportunity to test their abilities. They may sometimes hold back or feel their opponents out when in a battle, instead of going all out from tip-off. Soldiers, however, enter a battle with the sole desire to win and quite literally nothing else. In other words, soldiers have too much at stake to allow feelings of excitement or amusement to soften their determination. Soldiers are solely accomplishing whatever mission they’ve set out upon. 

Where a warrior may see battle as a proving ground, a soldier sees it as a duty to fulfill, often suppressing personal emotions for the sake of the larger cause. Ultimately, soldiers are mission-driven, while warriors are self-driven; this fundamental difference shapes not only how they fight, but what fighting means to them.

To be fair, either choice depends on the circumstances and the stage of life that one finds themselves in. For example, a young man ought to be and is typically a Warrior. They wish to test their capabilities and have the energy with little to no responsibilities or attachments to them. Thus, they are able to surpass their limits and fight for the sheer pleasure to enhance themselves. A Soldier is the better option when a man reaches older age, for this is when they begin to accumulate a family and have more pressing obligations that require them to be present.

I believe one does not trump the other in superiority, but calls for one to self-evaluate what season of life they are in. Although it's common for younger men to lean towards being a Warrior and the older men to be a Soldier, sometimes a younger man is forced to be a soldier due to life's circumstances. And sometimes an older man who is a Soldier can enter a stage in their life when the way of the warrior seems like a better fit, this could be most common when they are close to or nearing retirement.

This is no cookie-cutter label, it's an identifier that can and will change depending on your station in life. It's crucial to comprehend where you are in life because to take on the way of the warrior when one should be attacking life as a Soldier can cause serious consequences. Likewise, harboring a Soldier mentality when it'd be better to live as a Warrior can cause unnecessary mental health issues.

Overall, you have the capacity to be a Soldier or a Warrior, but you must pick one. It is impossible to live as both a Soldier and a Warrior, but it is possible to change your avatar based on the cards life deals you, moment to moment. Due to its subjectivity, evaluate the best Avatar for yourself.