There’s no easy way out.
As hard as that is to face most of the time, it’s true.
Everyday I’m reminded of how much we, as in all people, love to look for the easy solution. Everything from losing weight to alleviating pain and even making money. We want to pop a pill to melt away the pounds so we don’t have to give up our favorite foods or time exercising. We want to let our children cry-it-out, as sleep deprived parents, rather than spending more time soothing, nurturing, and teaching to ease their transition.
Obviously, there are lots of people who work very hard to solve their problems and are ultimately forced with accepting an alternative. And the alternatives we have available to us in this day an age are amazing. I’m just talking about the desire to avoid confronting the real problems and choosing the “easier” solutions only to end up suffering more in the long run.
Believe me, I know from personal experience. I’m not sitting here, judgmentally looking at the world thinking, “look at those fools”, while I sit in my perfect life. I look for the easy solutions too.
I gave away a large chunk of cash to a company who offered the “perfect solution” to my financial crisis as a broke college student. Let’s just say, that didn’t work out so well for me. I’ve popped many an Advil for a quick headache fix when I knew all I needed was to drink more water and lay down, only to find the same headache resurfacing a few hours later. I rushed my son’s transition from our bed into his crib, only to have him fear it. I had several cases of mastitis because I wasn’t taking care of myself and was too lazy to perform preventative measures (such as massage and garlic pills) before the problem got out of hand resulting in lots of discomfort and antibiotics.
Most of us don’t like to work through situations.
Unfortunately, which I’ve learned over an over again, there’s no such thing as an easy solution. That is unless you’re hitting the problem straight on. There’s no get rich quick scheme that doesn’t result in some sort of personal or financial problem sooner or later. There’s no drug out there free of either some sort of side effect or of which the effects won’t wear off eventually. By taking the easy route, we’re usually avoiding the real problem and that will come back to bite us later or we’ll deal with a new problem instead.
Sometimes, I look back on decisions I’ve made in my life and just wish I’d looked at the bigger picture.
Life is full of rewards if we’re willing to actually deal with the hands we’re dealt. That applies to all aspects of life. I’m tired of commercials and, really, TV in general telling me I deserve this or that just for breathing. I don’t deserve anything. That’s why the good things in life are such a blessing.
Wouldn’t it be awful if we never struggled at all? We’d never appreciate the good things if we didn’t experience any bad.
That’s how I feel anyway. Feel free to politely disagree. Sometimes, on a cold, rainy, fall day like today, I just need to remind myself of these things.
Amen! I have to remind myself of all my blessings regularly.