Not in pill form

Life could be so easy. Successful brand managers (or higher) could call and request my services. Beautiful (and talented) women could call to inquire about my dinner plans. My brothers construction company could show up with a crew (or two) carrying enough lumber to repair my pitiful excuse for a home. 

Yes, life could be so easy. 

'Cept it ain't.

Depending on your religious or philosophical bent, it is mostly labeled as somewhere between suffering and hardship. No one ever said it was fair. No one likened it to easy. We (most of us) were never promised rose gardens. 

Life is hard. Life is suffering. 

Now that we have THAT out of the way, we can begin. Because as soon as, the very moment, that we accept this fact, it is no longer suffering and it is no longer hard. Kind of a metaphysical catch-ah-22. Additionally,

IT IS WHAT WE DO. We live. We endure. We work. We learn to suffer in silence and push past pain. We sustain, grow, love, assist, contribute and find all types of ways to lighten the load and laugh in the face of torment and torture. WE DO NOT GIVE UP.

Ever. Under any circumstance. And no matter what. 

And that is why, dear friends, we work so hard at suffering. We even practice it. The more we do it, experience the nuance and the propinquity, the longer we can stand the relentless assault on our senses by a world seemingly gone berserk, the better our chances of survival. As individuals and as a group. 

And that is the goal, right? To stick around long enough to see grand kids get married, to pay off the mortgage, to break par, to retire to the lakefront house, to write our memoirs, or to race Kona. 

So we practice the art of the suffer. We make it hard. We do things that only a very small percentage of the populace are willing to do. And we do it often. I will walk WAY out on a limb and suggest that the results of this strange behavior is the single most important element in endurance. Another name for endurance?

Longevity. One's ability to endure. To outlast. The last man (or woman) standing. Me & YOU. 

I think there is value in that. I also feel that it needs to be matched with some definition of quality to be truly noble. We talked this morning about the two types of people who participate in Ironman: Those that race it and those that just want to finish. I want to race. That adds the last 10% to the 90% equation. There has to be meaning. There has to be challenge. I have got to earn it. I have got to understand at the cellular level what pain, suffering and hardship is. What it feels like. How it tastes. 

Life would be so easy it it came in a pill.