The Hard Bit

My daughter learnt ballet from a very traditional and strict ballet teacher. The teacher taught her students everything in French. As well as learning very precise new moves they also had loads of new terminology to get their heads around.

After each class, I would ask the girls what they learnt. My youngest daughter Tilly was seven years old and came home to show me her latest learning. Standing on her tippy toes with both arms stretched above her head. 

I asked Tilly what her new position was called and she replied, "It's called the hard bit!"

There are a lot of people living in ‘the hard bit’ right now. Life is a bit shit for many people I speak to. Some are dealing with business stress, some are dealing with illness, some are feeling stuck or completely paralysed as to where to turn or what to do.

Life is tough. We have people who depend on us, responsibilities to take care of and expectations to live up to. We all have struggles and challenges to overcome.

It's funny how offended people get when life gets tough. There is an audacity that ‘life should not be hard for me’. I think that it's arrogant to assume that life is easy. Living well takes courage. 

I have just finished a book, The Comfort Crisis, by Michael Easter. It's a book about extremes and pushing yourself. The premise of the book is that our lives have come so easy and comfortable that we are now seeing physical, mental and emotional problems from the lack of discomfort in our lives. Our tech and need for ease have moved us away from nature, effort, and perseverance.

Neale Donald Walsch famously said that our life begins at the end of our comfort zone... as we move from comfort into stretch, we get to explore and expand. It's about stretching yourself into something you once did not think was possible. Competing against yourself, rather than for the comparison of others.

I think that it is useful to believe that we can do hard things. We don’t have to but we are more than capable. We are all capable of climbing the fence between where we are now and the meadow that we want on the other side. But so many don’t. They stay stuck, accepting mediocrity rather than leaning into their magnificence.

What is your fence? For some, the fence is confidence or courage. For some, the fence is honesty and truth. Everything you want is on the other side of your hard bit!

I want to live in a world where people acknowledge their deep truths and break free from their old beliefs and structures. Where people step into what is possible. Living lives where people take responsibility for their happiness, for the way that they are living their lives.

What big changes would you want to happen in your world?
What newness is knocking on your door?

The world needs you in your truth. Life is better lived when you are in alignment with your heart and soul. When we push past comfort and lean into hard bits!