People think that life is HARD. Maybe it is. But we should be thankful that life is hard.
I want to repeat a story that I heard many years ago about a young man (late 20’s – early 30’s) who worked with teenage boys. He planned a trip for them where they were going to the Grand Canyon, and run from the North Rim to the South Rim. Not hike or walk …. RUN. Now, they didn’t just jump in the car and go to the Grand Canyon. They prepared for it by working out, practice running, etc. Plus, they had to pay their share of the trip.
For some, they didn’t always show up for the workouts or the workouts were too difficult, so they dropped out. For others, they spent their money on pizza and movies, and didn’t have the money to cover their share. But a significant number did the preparation and made the trip. The young man who arranged this excursion went the week before and ran the course by himself, just to make sure it could be done.
When the day came, bright and early in the morning, they started one at a time into the canyon. The rule was that they could stop and rest as much as they wanted, but for every step forward they were making it had to be running. Volunteers had been stationed along the way with bottles of water so no one would have to worry about dehydration.
The young planner was the first to reach the top of the other side, not because he was any faster or stronger, but because he was the first to start down the hill. The first thing he did when he reached the top of the South Rim was to go get some ice cream. One by one, each of the teens who made the trip came over the top of the rim, literally bawling. Partly because they made it and partly because they knew they were going to get some ice cream.
Not much was said that night as they all rested.
The next morning they were all sitting on the rim looking down at the trail they had each conquered the day before. People were walking around arranging for the donkey rides into the canyon or the bus tours, not having a clue what these young men had done the day before.
Our young leader passed out a bland 3×5 card and a pencil to each of them. He asked them to write down on the card what the hardest day of their lives was. They all wrote down “yesterday.” Then he asked them to turn the card over and write down what the best day of their lives was. Each one of them wrote the word “yesterday.”
In the movie “A League of Their Own” about the Girls’ Professional Baseball League in the early stages of World War II, the heroin decides to quit and tells manager Jimmy Dugan (played by Tom Hanks) that it “Just got too hard.” His reply was, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everybody would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.”
I told this story to a group of real estate agents a few years ago, and created a YouTube presentation around it. If you would like to watch and listen, you can go to this link: https://youtu.be/EAvANFmgkO0
Don’t worry about it being hard. That’s what makes it great.
