Simple vs. Easy

Jenniferahealy.smugmug.com

I run. A lot. And sometimes, kind of far.

One of those sometimes, was 33 miles, to be exact.

After that very far race, my mom asked me just how I did it.

“How do you run 33 miles?”

“You put one foot in front of the other; repeat,” I replied.

She shrugged it off as just another of my smart remarks, but I was serious. That was it. That is how you run. Whether it’s one mile or 100 miles, that does not change. What it is not, I think most would agree, is easy.

How often do we see people who are living out our desired life and ask “How are they doing it?” How many days do we start and end still dreaming about our goals because we just don’t know where to begin? Too many, because we’re asking questions to which we already know the answers.

We can see ourselves in the “after” and know ourselves in the “before”, but when it comes to the “during”, we struggle to get a clear picture. Or maybe we just don’t want to see that picture clearly, because it is of some down-right hard work. Hard work that we would suddenly be accountable for. There’s a reason the diet industry has a boom every time a new “secret” is revealed. Losing weight is not easy. We see it as some complex code to be cracked and analyzed. But it’s not. It’s a very simple equation: burn more than you consume. Saving money: Spend less than you earn.These aren’t complex or mysterious, they’re just hard to do.

When we’re looking to climb a mountain, we may spend extra time at the base. We’re still trying to figure out our approach. We’re just not sure where to start. But we will, once that magic moment of inspiration hits us, and up we go. And then everything will just come together, right?

At the base, we’re protected. We can’t fall. We can’t fail.

But we also can’t reach the top. If we merely sit down below, staring at the peak, that’s all we’ll ever do. Safe? Comfortable? Predictable? Sure. But how many dream of playing it safe? When have we been encouraged to “stay in our comfort zone”? Who yearns for complete predictability? Do these wishes exist? Possibly. But show me someone who made history by following precedence. Show me a safe, predictable, comfortable life that is shaping the world.

We don’t see these people at the top until they get there. We struggle to imagine there was ever a time they sat beside us at the base. But they did. The difference between us and them? Just a matter of steps. There is only one way to the top of the mountain, and it is up.

Simple.

But, by no means, easy.

Attempting that climb leaves you open to everything the environment can throw at you. There will be times when the journey seems smooth, and maybe even easy. There will be times when it’s anything but. There will be times when you feel like every moment is spent fighting to stay on that rock.

There will be times when you fall.

But even then, you will get closer. You will know the next time you cling to your spot on that mountain, that you can weather the storm. You will know when you do get back up, just what to expect up there, and you will be ready to face it or to find a way around it. You will appreciate the parts of the climb that go smoothly, and you may actually enjoy them.

So what are your goals? To run a Marathon? To get a job? To buy a home? To earn a degree? To be an artist? A writer? An actor? A film-maker? Bring world peace?

Lace up your shoes. Put one foot in front of the other. Go as far as you can and then take one more step. Tomorrow, that limit will be one step further.

Send out your resume. Tomorrow, you will have that much greater a chance of a job becoming yours.

Put $1 into a savings account. Tomorrow, the amount you need to save will be that much less.

Apply to school. Whether it turns out to be the school for you or not, you will be that much closer to making a decision.

Paint. Write. Act. Film. Be an example. “There are two kinds of people: those that wait for permission from a higher authority and those that grant themselves permission,” says author Tina Seelig. No one will wave a magic wand at the base and declare you a mountain climber; you become one by climbing. You become a runner by running, a writer by writing, a peacemaker by making peace. Result arrives through action.

So stop waiting for “permission.” Stop hoping to have inspiration hit you. Opportunity doesn’t knock, it sits silently behind a door that waits to be opened. And sometimes, that door is a wall that needs to be knocked down.

Is this easy? Of course not. Not at all. But it’s much simpler than we like to admit. You have a choice, one week, one month, one year from now: you can look back at the base from above it; look back at where you are now from where you’ve arrived, or you can still be were you’ve always been. Because regardless of what you do, that week, that month, that year are going to come and go. They’ll do it without even consulting you. If you choose action, how close you’ll be to the finish, I couldn’t say, but what I can say, is that you will not still be stuck at the start.

So stop over-complicating. Stop putting up your own roadblocks. The map from point A to point B may not be as much a mystery as you think. It might just be hard to travel. But it’s not impossible if you put one foot in front of the other.

And repeat.

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