Easy is a Hard Life

What happens when you face a challenge? There are two routes: You can push through and overcome the challenge or you back away and seek other interests. Unless the situation is necessary for living, most of us would choose the latter. Of course, we don’t want to live a hard life. We like it to be easy. However, if you think about it, easy can also be greatly dissatisfying. I can step on some toes by saying this, but easy can also be replaced with lazy. Yes, I said it. LAZY. Think about it. How many of us like our job? Statistics show that nearly 80% of American workers don’t like their job (How many of us dread Monday, are always happy for Friday, and complain about the weekends being too short? Then yes, you are in this category, too!). I don’t care where you came from or your experience, all of us can have our dream job or lifestyle. God didn’t makejunk! The reason why most of us live in mediocrity is because we feel it’s too hard to live any other way or we simply don’t even try because we listen to the dream stealers. You can give me any reason (excuse) you want, but it will all come down to you thinking it’s too hard and you don’t want to make the effort to make it better. Now I come from an ordinary background. I haven’t experienced the drama that others have, but I have read several stories and have associations with several people that have had lived pretty rough growing up. However, the ones I kept associations with are the ones that instead reacting to their past, they took action and rose above it all. This tells me that there are really no excuses. It’s just a matter of how bad you want it. Think about what ‘easy’ has done to most of us. When you were in grade school, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you achieve it? Most of us didn’t. Why not? Well, we found what it took to get there, and we listened to others on how hard it will be and they killed our dream. We were taught that failing is not a good thing. So we went with what was easy. That’s how we landed the job we don’t like and that’s why we live the lifestyle we didn’t plan on living. So easy is not getting us anywhere.

Easy is broke.

Easy is having regrets.

Easy is giving up.

Easy is settling.

Easy is surrendering.

Easy is being closed-minded.

Easy is not trying.

So what am I trying to say here? Live a hard life? Not necessarily. To me, living easy seems harder than working towards a dream. I don’t like anything that easy brings, so I enjoy a steady challenge where the end result brings a sense of purpose and gratification. Success is found outside of your comfort zone. In order to obtain your goals, your dreams, your lifestyle, it’s going to be hard. It wouldn’t be rewarding if it wasn’t hard. Nothing gratifying is easy. Receiving my college degree was a lot more gratifying than receiving my high school diploma. Being able to start my own businesswas a lot more gratifying than landing a job. Getting a sale in my business is a lot more gratifying than receiving a paycheck at work. If you are satisfied with a mediocre lifestyle, then I’ll pray for you. God did not put us here to not have a prosperous and abundant life. Read Jeremiah 29:11 and John 10:10. We have all been given the gift of life, but this gift is not repeated. With this gift, we have been granted that we can have any life we can imagine, but in order to have that life, you have to deserve it. And to deserve it, unfortunately doesn’t come easy. You have to take the necessary steps, overcome the challenges, and develop the right mindset to earn the life that was planned for you. The date with destiny has already been set. You just have to keep the appointment, and you keep the appointment by going through the process. When you are going for your dreams, the things that use to matter won’t matter anymore. The bigger challenges in life will make those small cares and worries that used to get you down all the time go away. Living check to check won’t bother you if you are working on a plan that will give you financial freedom. Just don’t give up! Don’t be scared! Don’t be afraid to fail. We have to fail in order to learn. Success is a poor teacher. Massive success is only obtained by multiple or significant failures. Don’t listen to what people say. If you buy their opinion, you buy their lifestyle. Only listen to those who have what you want.

I encourage you to take some time tonight and think about those dreams and goals you once had and write them down in a place you can view them every morning. Make a plan to action and work towards it. Embrace the challenges that come along with working towards your goal and remember those challenges are there for you to be ready to receive your reward. If you fail, learn from and keep going. Tom Watson says, “Double your rate of failure.” Shun yourself from the naysayers. Remember, there’s never been a statue built for a critic. Most critics are haters anyway. But don’t fall victim to living the easy (lazy) life. You are better. You and your family deserve better. Go get yours!

Live To Dream Big!