Do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty

I didn’t really work very hard on this goal- I had a built in way to accomplish it-just check my phone messages. One the other hand, I have checked my messages everyday where before I would wait for days… and then it would be awful.I definately have the attitude now that if it’s hard just do it so I am going to mark this as done but keep it as something of a habit.

Talking with a friend today who lifts weights at the same gym I do, he said, “What I love about it is that it is difficult. It is just hard”. It made me think of this line from William James. We spend so much time looking to make things easier, when doing the hard thing is often so rewarding. Every Friday is my date with the trap bar dead lift, the bench press, the overhead press, and the lateral pull down. And it is hard. And that is why it is worth doing.

I need to do more hard things.

...to the top of the foothill in front of the house and then biked down it.

During my run today, I had to cross the river. The only thing around which was going to help was a 1 foot wide iron frame spanning the width of the river. I hopped up on the iron frame, stood up and walked across listening to the water rush 10 feet below. It was more fun than difficult.

At this point, though, it was an accomplishment as I had just chicked out on a “long jump”.

To send ‘post holidays’ thank yous. Starting out slowly. The stakes are high, though.

...news to my parents last night. They were very cool with it.

...I drove 1645 km (1022 miles) across three countries.

16:00 Called car rental place, reserved moving truck.

16:30 Arrived at agency, signed papers, paid.

17:00 Started vehicle and drove off.

17:30 Parked in front of destination.

17:35 Proceeded to remove boxes from basement of apartment building and load them in truck.

16:25 Finished. Everything I own is in a truck right now.

In actuality, there were a few other things that took longer. But that was out of my hands really.

I’m just impressed with my ability to mobilise so quickly and efficiently. Makes me realise what I’m capable of when I’m focused and really get going on something.

...difficult to leave.

...conquered when I talked to a friend about a touchy subject.

While I’m glad about these last two difficult things, they were done out of necessity. I want to find something that isn’t a have-to-do, but more something I choose to do for no other reason than its difficulty. Right now, though, there seem to be too many have-to-dos.

I tried to think of some voluntary things the other day. One of them dealt with my fear of very tight spaces. Benji suggested potholing. Yeah, I think this would do it! God, it frightens me just looking at those small, tight tunnels!