top of page

This Is Hard

Writer's picture: Zack SchuylerZack Schuyler

In life, there are roads that are less traveled than others.


Much of the time, these roads are slower, unkept and in many cases require a little more effort and can feel a little lonely.


As human who grew up on a farm, riding in tractors and bouncing around in old grain trucks. I have loved to drive forever.


In fact, I got a commercial drivers license as soon as I could meet the age limit.


I love to travel, not by boat, not by plane; even though I want to learn to fly but by car.


I love driving. It calms me down. The twists, the turns, the lonely stretch of highways and byways give me space to think and be with my thoughts.


Sometimes those drives are very productive. Sometimes they lead me down roads I should have never taken and sometimes they are happy accidents filled with stories that embarrass and make me beam with pride.


Every roads difficulty is predicated by the vehicle that is driving upon it. A big lifted truck can deal with rough terrain far better than a Porsche Carrera GT3.


The trouble is, we do not always know what the road before us holds. We can look at a map, we can pull up the gps if it can connect, we can give our best guess but cannot truly know.


We cannot truly know what the miles before us will look like. There are always variables that we cannot account for and those variables can change everything.


A patch of gravel on a curve inside the dragons tail in Tennessee will legit change your life if you are pushing yourself and your vehicle to its limits. You may find yourself saying phrases like, that wasn’t there before! It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t know. How could I have known?


All of these phrases serve nobody, including ourselves, well.


For whatever the circumstances are, you are where you are in the condition you are in and the only thing that can change it is you.


The question is, do you and I have the grit to move in a direction that is best for us, whatever the road looks like in front of us?


Accidents happen, getting lost happens, losing control happens, freak occurrences happen and consequences for our actions are real.


The truth is, hard is hard and whatever the hard is that you are facing on the road to where you are going is, it is hard.


It sucks.


It doesn’t feel good.


It doesn’t feel good to lose.


It is not pretty to feel pain.


It is not our preference to embrace catastrophe.


It is uncomfortable at best, it is stressful and filled with fear but hard is hard and this is what hard feels like.


THIS.

IS.

WHAT.

HARD.

FEELS.

LIKE.


It feels like getting kicked and asking for more.

It feels like hope being lost and choosing to hope again.

It feels like getting the shaft only to give from the well that is once again empty.


This is what hard feels like and the road is filled with potholes.


BUT


Just because it doesn’t feel good, doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong road.

Just because you haven’t seen the reward doesn’t mean you should turn around.

Just because you are on the shoulder, scratching your head, wondering how you’re going to get down the mountain, doesn’t mean you are done.


I just means it is HARD.


Life is HARD.


And guess what.


News Flash


YOU

CAN

DO

HARD

THINGS


You just don’t want to.


So maybe today, lets you and I make a choice to do the hard things on purpose, to let grudges die, to let go of the burdens that burry our joy and steal our hope. Maybe lets you and I walk together on a new road, one where we have choices and sometimes that choice looks like pain. Lets you and I put off gratification for a long time, so we can bask in a reward that was filled with hard so we can share it with those still on the journey.


You are Loved.

You are Valued.

You are Cared For.


DO NOT FORGET IT.


This Is What Hard Feels Like and You Were Made For It.


Peace.


Zack Schuyler

(School of Hard & Silly Director)

VP of Student Experience FMG



81 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Red One

Yorumlar


bottom of page