I remember reading this poem originally back about 5 years ago as it was circulating on social media, and it certainly resonated with me. It’s a poem written by Devon Brough and goes like this:
Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.
Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.
Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard.
Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.
Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.
Back in March of 1999 when I moved out of my parents’ house and started living on my own, I just knew the finances weren’t going to be easy. But I took a huge leap of faith and went for it. I had a good job and I’d just finished paying off my 8-year-old truck, but rent, car insurance, renter’s insurance, food, gas, water, electricity, furnishings for the house…it just all seemed so daunting. I made it all work with a couple of $10 pieces of furniture from a co-worker, a garage sale vacuum cleaner, a couple sturdy snow shovels, moonlighting and taking side jobs, and a whole lot of meager living. I saved my money and invested as much as I could, and the “Lost Decade” allowed me to buy stocks cheaply using dollar-cost averaging, with just the amounts I could save. Those were certainly hard times. I’m benefiting from those smart decisions today.
About the time I got into dirt bike and ATV Motocross, I started learning about ways to live healthier. As I’m primarily a computer guy, this was quite the path to travel! I was really never obese in my adult years, but I was definitely the guy that was reading and studying the “how to” labels on the side of gym equipment to figure out what the heck I was supposed to do with them. Over the next 20 years or so, some years much more intensely than others, I created a program that suited me, both for cardio and weight training. In my prime, I’d train so hard my circuit training felt like cardio too. There were times I thought I would pass out before opening the gym door to leave. Those were certainly hard times. I benefited by being able to do what I loved to do for decades, and I’m still benefiting from those smart decisions today.
In the computer world, you have to stay on top of trends because the landscape is constantly changing. I started on computers that used cassette tapes to store programs. Before starting my job at the School District, I knew they had Apple Macintosh computers, and I didn’t have much experience with them. My father worked as a computer tech in Northfield and he brought home a Power Macintosh 5200 so I could partially disassemble it and become acquainted with the hardware, software, and repair procedures, all on my own time. I did this because I wanted to seem competent at my new job. Before the Faribault High School addition was completed, I used paper and pencil to plan a temporary computer network in a temporary shed they put over by the tennis courts so we could have a main office during construction. It took some planning, much of it on my own time. I did this because I wanted to seem competent at my job. Planning highly technical pieces can be hard. Not doing it correctly and having people stand around looking at you is also hard. Over the years, I had to learn how to connect buildings together through networking, how to virtualize servers, what SIEM is all about, and how to embrace AI. Continuing education as you get older is hard. Not keeping up with technology and feeling your usefulness wither away is also hard.
I write about this to give some people hope that think life is hard. Yes, it sure is! But in many cases, you can choose your hard on a daily basis. Alcoholism or drug addiction vs. sobriety, gluttony vs. grind, complacency vs. drive. Choosing and confronting the smarter “hards” can make them turn into “easys” later. Getting educated while you’re young, taking advantage of internships and apprenticeships, saying “yes” to added work and opportunities, and understanding life is competitive can be a lot to take in.
As Mr. Brough put so simply, life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.