Monday, October 25, 2010

The Struggle

I was watching my stepson do his homework the other day. Like many children, he was using a lot more energy to avoid doing the work than it would have taken to actually get it done.

Those of us who have kids see this a lot. And we try to reason with them, we try to show them the error of their ways. "You could have been done by now if you hadn't spent all this time fighting with me!" And we get frustrated that they never seem to understand.

But it hit me that we don't get it, either. Life has an easy path and a difficult one. The easy one is to follow the current and see where it takes us. The difficult one (and it is HARD) is to resist. When we fight where life is taking us, we end up tired and frustrated, and, as anyone who has fought a current knows, we end up at the same place, just a lot later and a lot more beat up.

Do what is easy. Do what comes to you. Follow the current where it takes you.

This is not to say "follow the crowd." Most of the people in the crowd are pretty unhappy, and are fighting or self-medicating every step of the way. But we all know the person who followed his own drummer, who sang her own song, and who is now happier than anyone they know and wondering what all the fuss is about.

Do what you must, and everything else will follow. The struggle is optional.

Jeff

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