Everyone needs a challenge

In my junior year of high school, I transferred to a new school that was a lot more challenging than the one I had been going to. My first semester there was pretty rough. But I decided to embrace the challenge, and by my second semester I’d purged the consonants from my transcript. The A’s I’d had to work for felt very different from A’s that I didn’t. They inspired a confidence that felt earned.

I’ve been thinking about that as some of my children are taking on some things that are truly challenging. Sometimes it’s a harder class, sometimes it’s moving up a level in an activity. I know it can be frustrating, but one of life’s great exhilarations is throwing yourself into something that seems just beyond your grasp, working as hard as you can, and then achieving it.?

Which leads me to this question: What do you have in your life that could have you experiencing that exhilaration? In adulthood, it’s always tempting to drift toward things that aren’t so challenging. Balancing work and family life often feels challenging enough! But then we cut ourselves off from the possibility of growth.?

Maybe it’s trying to get faster. Or stronger. Maybe it’s solving a problem for your organization that’s been festering for years. In my case, I’m revising a novel that I really like,?but it has structural problems. I want to bring these characters and this world to life, and so I am throwing myself into ripping parts apart and rewriting the manuscript to be the best it can be.

Will anyone read it? Probably someone will. But will they like it? Who knows. All I know is that as I’m writing, and finding new connections, and seeing things I didn’t before, I feel as happy as I did forging new connections in my brain all those many years ago. Everyone needs a challenge. So what’s yours?

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