Holding the line means being "comfortable with being uncomfortable". We have to endure being stripped of all kinds of civil liberties, kept in a "holding pattern" for our own safety, and repress our natural urge to fight in the ways that are unhelpful. It's like having to be a farmer when you want to be a soldier, because you're planing your future harvest in a war zone.

Psychological war is real war. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.