How we Make Easy, Difficult—and how Difficult Can Be Easy

If you think of something as too difficult to do in a given moment—it might be useful to ask yourself?why?it is “difficult". Really. Take a second and ponder what makes something difficult—or not.

How do you know? What?is?difficult????

Consider...

1. Here’s an example of an inner voice making something difficult:?“A cardio workout is going to be difficult today. I don’t feel like doing it.”
2. Something more difficult than that = a heart attack.

Of course #1 is right now. #2 could be a longer term thing. Further, #1 and #2 are not necessarily direct correlations. There are plenty of healthy, athletic people who have heart attacks for various reasons. But stick with me.?

Even if a cardio workout feels like a difficult thing to do…?

• 1) It can feel less difficult to do “difficult" things when we?decide?to do them—or not (if a?heart attack strikes, we don’t get to decide not to have it).
• 2) We can also?define what we experience as “easy” or “difficult”. The words we use and the stories we tell (ourselves) can have a huge impact on what we actually experience.

Better yet:?"Bonus easies" can show up when we don’t expect them after doing the difficult.?

There are three flights of stairs where I live. When a doctor decided to take a closer look at my heart a year ago—my awareness increased. I didn’t didn’t quite realize that those stairs were harder than they needed to be for me. Not a “problem” but let’s say I was ready to stop climbing the stairs by the time I got to the top ??.

A year later, and after a few lifestyle changes that weren’t that drastic or difficult (many of them are downright fun)... I found myself leaping to the top of the third floor, two steps a time the whole way. The first time I did that I didn’t even realize I did it until I had done it. I was breathing easy when I arrived.

That’s something I remember doing as a teenager.

I couldn’t believe how easy it was.