I doubt anyone here will misunderstand me when I say you don’t always have to choose the difficult path. On the contrary, to choose difficulty simply because it’s difficult leads, in my experience, to little peace and much exhaustion.
Of course I don’t mean that we won’t do (and shouldn’t do) difficult things. But level of difficulty is not, on its own, a good measuring tool. It’s like busyness and exhaustion–they’ve become status symbols, and that’s ridiculous. If you’re not exhausted by the end of the day, if you choose an easier path, you’re no less of a person, and you’ve made no less of a valuable impact on the world.
Sometimes what we’re good at isn’t our life’s calling. But we’re told over and over again how hard we have to work, how much time we have to put in, how we have to (should) develop our talents and to make a valuable contribution.
Well, you know what? What about cultivating our interests rather than our innate talents? Sometimes they’re one in the same, often they aren’t. What about cultivating ease so that we have more time and patience and energy at the end of the day to give to ourselves, to give to those around us? Rest and ease and contentment–yes! contentment!–are what make us better humans. This new age will ride in on the back of rest, reflection, and heart-soul-centered action. Exhaustion is not a determiner of worth, nor does it leave much space for our own, let alone universal, wellbeing.
Amy Holt 