Hard Now, Easy Later

For the past few weeks, I’ve been putting in overtime hours at work. It’s not easy getting through the back-to-back twelve-hours shifts, and initially I declined the offer of overtime work. I wanted to have time to write, run, and do the things that matter to me. Because doing what matters has mattered more to me than money. But then I thought about some of my other goals, one of which includes paying off some debt. I realized overtime was a way to earn some extra cash to put towards that goal. It meant that life would be hard now but easy later.

Stay Committed

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was recently diagnosed with mild cardiomyopathy, which has resulted in me taking medication daily. As well, I’m now on a low sodium diet with the hope of also lowering my blood pressure. Less than twenty-four hours after the diagnosis, I was trying to figure out what I could eat. And it’s been challenging creating flavourful means without salt, but I’m committed to doing what’s hard now so that life will be easy later.

If you change, it’ll all change. Don’t put it on someone else or hope that someone else will change your future for you. Take responsibility for yourself. Take personal responsibility.¹

It’s the same with any other goal. It’s easy to keep doing what’s easy, like binge-watching Netflix. Do you keep watching or do you turn it off and go work on your book? Do you keep munching on that bag of chips or do you put it down and go to the gym? Doing what is hard now will ultimately make life easy later.

Hard Now, Easy Later

You have to take the long view. Choosing to eat healthy every day while paying close attention to my sodium intake isn’t easy. Getting out for a run when I’m tired and not feeling it isn’t easy. Some days it’s a matter of squeezing in only thirty minutes of writing into a busy day. And staying awake during an overnight twelve-hour shift can, at times, feel like torture. But these are things you do when you are committed to your goal.

These are the hard things you do now to make your life easier later. So, when you feel like giving up, when you’re not sure you have the strength or determination to go on, remember: hard now, easy later.

And I want to tell you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And, best of all, you do not need anyone’s permission to be—unapologetically—who you are.

1. Rohn, J. (2022). The Power of Ambition: Awakening the Powerful Force Within You, Shippensburg, Nightingale-Conant-Corporation., p. 61. [↩]