Nothing in Life Is Worth Having, If It’s Easy
Face it head on, or run away. We are the choices we make.
“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”
Theodore Roosevelt
It’s difficult to have an authentic conversation.
It’s difficult to build a startup.
It’s difficult to stand up and lead.
It’s difficult to be true to ourselves.
It’s difficult to be rejected 200 times and show up anyway.
On the other hand:
It’s easy to take drugs.
It’s easy to consume alcohol mindlessly.
It’s easy to run away.
It’s easy to avoid confrontation.
It’s easy to quit.
It’s easy to complaint.
I have found that the highest high often comes from the lowest low. And no, I’m not talking about dopamine chasing. You might ask:
“so… are we going to just suffer all our life?”
Good question - read on.
Context:
When I was gathering feedback for Surya (It’s like FitBit, but for mindfulness) — I got into deep thinking when I saw this feedback:
Great feedback. The point: “If the tool says we’re not mindful - we might feel frustrated or disappointed with ourselves”
I thought a great deal about it, and my conclusion was: “It’s not for everyone.”
Here’s the thing:
Whether our mindfulness level is high or low doesn’t really matter. It is a number, a metric based on facts. What truly matters is what are we going to do about it.
Which brings me to the point I was making in the beginning. Growth is not easy, we don’t live in wonderland where everything is rainbow and everything is perfect. We are not perfect. We are not meant to be perfect. And yet it’s the imperfection that makes life great. Because we get to go on a once in a lifetime journey of self-discovery, self-improvement, and growth. And that’s the point!
Nothing in Life Is Worth Having, If It’s Easy
So then are we going to suffer all our life? That’s sad.
I think the answer to this is… It depends.
Suffering comes from wanting more.
To be specific: more ego, more money for the sake of ego, more power for the sake of power, more more more… for the sake of more. It’s an endless pit without a clear purpose that brings upon suffering.
I think the key is to change the thinking to: “I am great. I have enough. And I’d like to have more wisdom, more learning, more growth, more insights, more abundance — so that I can grow to be a better person and when that happens, everyone around me becomes better and collectively we build a better world”.
Better me, Better we, Better world.
The question that I’d leave with you today: What’s something that is incredibly difficult that you know you need to go after but haven’t?
👋 I’m Jake - entrepreneur / founder / CEO, building meaningful startups with the same goal of making the world we live in a better place.
I invite you to join my un-filtered journey as I build and scale my startups publicly. Subscribe (free. I do this for passion) to get real-life sharing, learning & wisdom.
If you have great ideas - send me an email: jake@suryaband.com - I’d love to co-create with you!