How Choosing Your Hard Can Benefit You

There is a saying that life is hard, so you must choose your hard. But what does this mean exactly? I think that it means exactly what it sounds like – life isn’t always easy, there are inevitable parts of it that are going to be hard – so choose your hard. Everything we do, all the decisions we make, require sacrifices. It’s the same principle. If it’s going to be hard anyway, we might as well choose the hard that is going to make us the happiest, or help us reach our goals.

Each choice will require sacrifice and hard. IT will require perseverance and strength. So choose that which you want to work hard. Where do you want to place your time and your energy.

I have often wondered why some people never seem to rise above their circumstances while others do. It is all in the choices of hard. And some people enjoy complaining or being in a tough spot, because if they changed it and actually got out of the situation, what would they have to complain about and how would they get sympathy. YEs, some enjoy the hard that they have found themselves in.

Others, maybe they simply do not have the belief in themselves and their abilities that they can do better. So they instead choose they hard that they know. At least they know what they are up against, and familiarity can give some comfort. Because the fear of the unknown can be quite hard. And some simply cannot face it.

And this is where I find myself. I am starting something that I have never done before, and quite frankly, not sure that I can do. There fear of the unknown is very hard for me right now and can keep me awake at night. But I choose my hard. Because if I can do this, in this next few months, then I will have accomplished a great deal, and more than I thought possible. Oh, but it is going to b hard, and stretch me.

“If it wasn’t hard then everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” – Tom Hanks, A league of Their Own

It’s the hard that scares me, if I am honest. But I am going to be working hard anyway, so I might as well work hard at something that will make my life easier later. If it’s going to be hard anyway, I might as well choose the hard that benefits me the most and gets me closer to my goals.

There are also several sayings about fear: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” And “If your dreams don’t scar you then they aren’t big enough.” My fear is that I won’t be able to do it, or will do it poorly. But I think that it would be harder not to try. So I choose my hard. I know it will take much energy, focus, and detail. and I cannot wait until it is done.

We are told so much that the worlds fear and hard are negative words, that there should be neither fear nor hard things in our life, and if there is, then we are doing something wrong. Maybe. But what if we are doing something right? What if, when it comes to positive goals, dreams, changes and accomplishments, that those words are actually good? What if we, in our spoiled little cocoons of air condition and delivered everything and easy does it…we have forgotten what it is like to work hard? What it is like to go beyond our normal, what it’s like to be tired but to do it anyway, to accomplish something worthwhile, or even great?

Life is short. Choose your hard. But that saying goes well beyond the words. Also choose what scares you because that is when we grow, when we strive to push ourselves past what we have done in the past. And what if we fail? That might be humiliating. But what if we succeed? Wouldn’t that be worth it? And there enlies the treasure.