“Put the hard work in.  Though it may take time and energy, the fruit that comes from it is always so much better,” not attributed to anyone.  The quote was on my calendar but it doesn’t need to have an author—it’s valid in its simplicity.  One thing that is abundantly clear regardless of the goal, that goal will require work.  It requires sacrifice.  It’s been said that the cost of a new life is your old one.  We are not able to create new or live in a new way if we continue the old habits.  We can’t expect life to happen to us.  At least not the life we want.  We need to participate and help steer the course.  We also often mistake that work is hard, rather that it must be hard to be worthwhile or productive.  Work is meant to produce results, that doesn’t mean it needs to be difficult.  Can it be? Will it be at times?  Yes on both counts.  But the work we are meant to do is always worth it.  It always costs something to get something, that doesn’t mean it’s too much.

I’ve lived life with a certain amount of ambivalence.  I wasn’t always taught that I could have what I wanted but I was born with a sense that it was true.  I came from entrepreneurs and hard working people who managed to shape their lives as they saw fit.  I knew it could be done.  I just never applied those lessons to myself.  Not that I didn’t work hard—far from it—I just didn’t know how to work hard on my own ventures.  We have a finite amount of time that no one knows how long it is, so now that I’m 40, I’m realizing how silly it is to spend our energy on anything other than what we love or on things that really interest us, things we can make an impact with.  Even just on things we enjoy.  I watch the kids in this neighborhood, my own son as well, and how they live with this absolute sense of freedom, joy, and trust.  I remember feeling that—no worry about time, just living in the moment.  And then we start teaching fear, instilling fear into ourselves.  Believing that if we don’t achieve certain things that this life somehow wasn’t worth living.  The truth is my friends, that we all end up in the same place at the end.  No one gets out alive. 

It may be scary to direct our energy how we want to, it may be risky at times (or feel that way) to take charge of what we do, to work against what we are told is the standard.  But I truly think it’s scarier to spend my energy doing things that I don’t love.  I want to sing, dance, swing with my son.  I want to cook, and strengthen my body.  I want to live each day to the fullest instead of waiting for someone to make a decision on my life.  We can’t make people feel or behave how we want them to.  We can’t live our lives for someone else.  We all have work to do on this Earth—I want to make sure it’s the work that I’m meant to do.  Why not feel joy in work?  Why does it have to be a chore?  What an amazing gift to share our gifts with people.  Making our lives a little better by making other people a little better.  I don’t need permission to do that—none of us do.  As long as we do what feels right then nothing can stop us.  Doing the work will yield a result.  The energy we put toward that work is up to us.  I choose to tip the scales toward what I love.