Working Hard

I wanted to write about working hard. I feel like it took me a while to realize the importance of it day in and day out. For a while I felt like I was searching for pleasure by putting in the least amount of effort possible. But this past year I have grown and matured in so many ways. I now see that achieving pleasure usually comes with pain! It comes from enduring moments that don’t feel that great, from pushing through those moments. When you push through difficulty, you get to a place of ease, your brain figures out what is doing, things get easier, and you feel joy, pleasure, emotional connection. You feel your strength, and in it, an irrevocable peace. You feel accomplished and your mind is at ease.

I’ve been actively doing things everyday that I find challenging. For the most part this includes yoga, reading, and running. With yoga, usually it’s hard for me to start. I always work it up so much in my head. The truth is it’s not as hard as I expect, and there’s always room for modification, and rest in postures I find too difficult. But the thing is, once you get going, you don’t really notice the difficulty, and rather you just feel the effects and respond to the movements you are doing. There are a multitude of sensations running through your body, and your in this globe of feeling, that you don’t notice the effort you are putting in for doing. Your mind becomes fixated, almost entranced by the yoga flow and you are a curious creature flowing through the movements. Before you know it, it’s over and you feel so good. It’s the same with reading. It takes a little longer to get into the swing, where it becomes easier, And at times it’s still tricky to understand/focus on what the writer is trying to convey. But once you pass the 20 page mark, you eyes are drifting and you are feeling everything the character are, and you feel alive and ready to experience the spectrum of human emotions and environments.

And by the end of the day after facing the challenges, you feel calm and accomplished. Our mind is only responding to what we put it through. And I believe the healthier stimulants are also the more challenging ones. So that’s why I have tried hard to fill my day with challenges. My brain and my body feel good when I do this. This is how I inevitably find pleasure. It isn’t by taking the easiest road possible. It’s by applying my self, feeling myself get stronger. Feeling my legs get strong, feeling my mind become more agile. That is where true satisfaction lies. And our life experience is largely up to us. I didn’t realize this until everyday I saw how much of my day was determined by me and me alone. So I have the responsibility to choose how that day goes. And for me, it’s putting in the hard work, so I can feel strong and at ease.