Easy vs. Difficult

It is common to become jaded.

Different tasks, day-to-day life, “the grind,” if you will—it becomes all consuming.

It becomes routine.

And often, it becomes what we “have” to do, rather than what we “want” to do. Or at least that’s the way we come to see it.

We get stuck in a mindset of dreaming of the future, or rather, of a different life than the one we are currently living. We imagine ourselves in another context, amid different jobs, relationships, places, and people.

We dread our alarm clock. We listen to the same songs on the way to work. We start doing the least amount of things we need to do to get by.

We become jaded by the life we are living—the life we have built for ourselves.

And I want to know why.

Why do we come to resent the choices that we have made? The choices that we were free to make?

Because, it’s easier that way.

It’s easy to dream of something different. It’s easy to do the minimum.

It’s easy to simply “think”, rather than “do”.

It’s easy to forget why we made our decisions in the first place, why they are driving us to our dreams.

It is difficult to push ourselves.

To see the potential in the situation. The potential for you to push yourself beyond your limits. The potential for you to practice self-control and perseverance. The potential for you to learn self-discipline and what it is that you truly want.

We must see the opportunity in every situation. Different events, milestones, times in our lives—they are all relevant. They are all stepping stones to something greater. They are all teachers and developers.

We must get out of the mindset that we are doing what we have to do. We must realize that, in fact, we are doing what we want to do, because what we are doing today is setting us up for what we want tomorrow.

It’s easier to spend money than it is to save it, but maybe your ultimate goal is to move across the country and for that, you must save. It’s easier to do mediocre work than your best, but maybe your goal is to quickly advance in your career and for that, you must do great work. It’s easier to skip your run than it is to get up and go, but maybe your goal is to run a half marathon and for that, you need to be capable.

Each day is a chance to build yourself up into the person you want to be, to build the life that you have always dreamed of.

Each day is a chance to honor your ultimate goals and grow into something more.

Even if you don’t know what that is yet.

So learn everything you can, do everything that you can do. Relax, enjoy others company—take it all in.

Quit being jaded, and allow yourself to live the life that you yourself have built.