this is hard.

On Saturday, we went on a hike. It wasn’t too long or too far, but for about a mile and a half, it was steep. We were puffing and sweating and looking up and only seeing more to climb. It was well worth it, but there was a few moments on that ascent when I felt myself thinking: am I doing this for fun?

For some reason, in the midst of that slow climb, this blog post came back to me. I remembered to be present for all of my this-is-hard feelings, to accept them, to acknowledge that yes it’s hard and uncomfortable, but that isn’t always bad.

Don’t let yourself run. Your mind will want to run from the hard thing, because you have an ideal in your head that life will be comfortable and easy and pleasant. This ideal obviously isn’t reality, because putting off the hard things by focusing on the easy and pleasant only makes your life harder and more uncomfortable over time. So focus on the hard thing, see your mind wanting to run, then don’t run.

Climbing mountains isn’t the only thing that feels hard to me. There are so many things that scare me, and as a person prone to anxiety and fear, facing any of those fears is hard.

But, for what it’s worth, I’m stronger than I often give myself credit for. We are stronger.

The hike was hard, but it wasn’t that hard.