Be the Hunter, Not the Prey: The Masculine Call to Confront Your Monsters
By Dr. Keith Waggoner
“After 30+ years as a Psychologist & Coach, I’ve found that it’s far better to be the Hunter rather than the Prey.” – Dr. Keith M Waggoner
There is a monster in every man. And he must either learn to face it—or be devoured by it.
As men, we are not called to be passive recipients of fate. We are not designed for the sidelines, for excuses, or for perpetual hesitation. No. We are wired for pursuit, for danger, for responsibility—and for the battle of becoming.
Yet many men today live like prey. They are chased by anxiety, fear, debt, indecision, addiction, and regret. Their lives are not expressions of dominion but of avoidance. And the body knows it.
The Physiology of Fear: Monsters in the Dark
Psycho-physiologically, we deteriorate when we’re being hunted. When the sympathetic nervous system is triggered without conscious regulation, cortisol floods the body. Heart rate spikes, digestion stops, testosterone drops. When you’re being chased—by literal or metaphorical monsters—you degrade. You become reactive. You become prey.
A 2005 study from the University of Pennsylvania found that sustained fear and passivity literally shrink the hippocampus—the region of the brain responsible for memory and learning. Another paper published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience concluded that chronic stress rewires our neurological threat detection systems, causing men to over-perceive threat and underperform under pressure.
In short: fear makes you stupid, small, and slow.
But when you turn and face the monster—when you become the hunter—the entire physiological system changes. Dopamine rises. Executive function is restored. Testosterone floods back in. You get stronger, clearer, and more courageous. The monster that chased you becomes the mission that sharpens you.
Scriptural Mandate: Dominion, Not Drifting
Genesis 1:28 commands, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…”
This is not passive language. It is active, assertive, and masculine. From the Garden to the Cross, the story of Scripture is filled with men who either faced their monsters—or were consumed by them.
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David ran toward Goliath.
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Gideon, the weakest in his clan, tore down the altars of Baal.
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Jesus entered the wilderness to confront the devil himself.
- When God wanted to make a king out of David, He didn’t give him a crown. He gave him Goliath… A real monster… Real monsters are worth hunting… because they make us into a real Hunter.
And what about you?
You’re not here to hide. You’re not here to cower. You are here to become a man of Undisputed Mastery—a man who knows that within every fear lies an opportunity for dominion.
Historical Echoes: Men Who Hunted the Dark
History doesn’t remember the passive. It remembers the warriors, inventors, pioneers, prophets, and reformers who stared into the abyss and made it blink.
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The Spartans trained boys to face pain, not escape it.
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The Stoics taught that “The obstacle is the way.”
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Winston Churchill stood against Hitler when the rest of the world preferred appeasement.
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Carl Jung said, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
When you chase the monster—when you pursue it—you become transformed. You become dangerous in the right way.
The Curriculum of Courage: Undisputed Mastery
In Undisputed Mastery, I teach that men must identify the Saboteur, meet the Monster, and forge the Sage. The Saboteur wants you to stay prey—comfortably dying. The Monster is your shadow, your suppressed self, your trauma. The Sage is the version of you who hunts, leads, serves, and sacrifices.
Every man I’ve coached who has moved forward—who has faced his fear instead of running from it—has become stronger. His business grew. His marriage improved. His body changed. His spirit awakened.
Why?
Because monsters are not meant to chase you. They are meant to be chased down, faced, and slain.
Closing Charge: Rise and Hunt
If you are being hunted—by fear, shame, addiction, mediocrity—it’s time to turn around.
Face it.
And then chase it.
Because the man who hunts is the man who grows. And the man who grows is the man who leads. And the man who leads becomes a father, a warrior, a king, a champion—not just of his own life, but of generations.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21
That good? It starts when you pick up the sword of responsibility, grit your teeth, and say: “Enough.”
Be the hunter.
Not the prey.