We’ve all heard the phrase that “nothing worth having is easy”. It’s a familiar idea we all intuitively understand yet when it comes to crunch time, when things get hard, we can forget this.
The digital age that us humans are now becoming seamlessly integrated into, has transformed the way we communicate to our friends and family all the way to how we may build a career. Never have day to day tasks seemed so easy. We have accessibility to so much at the touch of a button.
Splitting a bill at a restaurant is done on a phone calculator not via an arduous long division exercise requiring patience and a penchant for tedious maths. (Although the bill split amongst a large group is still a source of heartache for most of us even with the technological support).
We get conversation from our loved ones in instant, small, green and grey bubbles, we get attention from potential lovers via a few swipes, we get precise information from search engines and YouTube instructional videos, we get complex directions from Google Maps, we get to our favourite track on the album by hitting the skip button.
And then there’s social media. Instagram and Facebook have brought about a plethora of people who have gained fame and fortune for only posting pictures of their body with a dieting supplement or protein shake. Whilst these Insta celebs are frequently operating and behaving in ways that serve the patriarchy, commercial juggernauts or narrow ideals of what female beauty or masculinity should be, we can’t deny that many are getting materially wealthy by doing meaningless, easy crap.
Even if the Insta-celeb is something that a person avoids at all cost, for many of today’s impressionable youth, this is what is seen as #goals. Simple enough to replicate and simple enough to get a bot following for to boost those sponsored content opportunities.
But this ease is an illusion. At a subconscious level, all that seems to be easy, has brought about an internal unease.
Because the phrase we began with at the start of this post speaks a truth: nothing worth having is easy. As life inevitably deals its unsavoury cards, we are faced with the daunting task of having to mentally and/or physically overcome something difficult.
A meaningful career can’t be gained by promoting harmful dieting pills. Communication cannot thrive only on WhatsApp. Love won’t be found in every other swipe. Wisdom can’t be gained from watching a few videos. An artist’s work cannot have a profound impact on you if you skip the whole album.
It is through the difficulty of hard work that our proudest and happiest moments can be found; those triumphant times in life where we said “we did it” or “I made it”, or simply “finally”.
And why is that? It’s because the satisfaction of persevering towards a higher goal or vision, where blood, sweat and tears have been shed, where things may have seemed impossible, where the situation was fraught with uncertainty, where obstacles were defeated courageously, where continued and regular hard work was put in, is exponentially more satisfying than a nugget of empty digital pleasure.
And so, to conclude, take what is easy with a pinch of salt. Give what is difficult but meaningful in the long term your full attention. Make that the real #goal.