Choose your suck
Because things will suck.
We face hard things every day. We need to do those things in order to enjoy the good stuff or achieve the goals we set for ourselves. A lot of people don’t realize that we can choose the sucky things we face.
Don’t have enough money? Take on a second job. Don’t like being overweight, but don’t have “time” to exercise? Get up earlier and hit the gym or go for a run before work. Both options suck, but we can choose which one we face.
Don’t eat that cake
Take it from someone that grew up on candy, cakes, and other sweet stuff. I still crave those things every now and then. Things like “you only live once, enjoy it while you can” are thrown around a lot, and I couldn’t agree more, but does that really mean stuffing ourselves with unhealthy stuff? Shouldn’t it mean the exact opposite, treat the body well so we can live for as long as possible — or at least stack the odds in our favor?
“I’m the fattest I’ve ever been, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been” is another thing that is being thrown around. I can understand that, in a way. Life’s pretty good when you’re lying on the couch eating candy, ice cream, and cookies instead of exercising.
The thing is, when you’re making that decision — you’re making a decision based on how you are feeling at the moment. Even the most elite athletes have said that they don’t always look forward to their workouts, I’m sure they would like to stay in bed or on the couch and eat some garbage. Let’s be extreme and say that you choose current happiness day in and day out, what will your life look like in 20 years? You will be obese and probably catch a bunch of different diseases. Think you will be as happy then? I’ll bet it will be a lot harder getting back to choosing the right thing to do at that point.
Smoking. You’re addicted and love the feeling you get when you take a puff, you’re happy in the moment. If you stop, you will feel bad and have withdrawals for a couple of weeks — maybe even months. That time will suck. But if you keep smoking, how much will it suck when you’re 60 years old and find out you have lung cancer?
A bad relationship. You’re not completely happy with your relationship, but you don’t want to face the things needed to fix it. It might even be beyond fixable. Either way, you don’t want to be alone — so you stay in the relationship. How happy are you after 10 years in a bad relationship?
Your job. You’re unhappy with your current position. By switching jobs or starting your own business, you know you will have to work more at times. You may not earn as much as you currently do. You might have to do some things you aren’t comfortable with. Do you stay unhappy in your current job because it’s safe, or do you take on some challenges to ultimately be happier down the road?
These are all things we should think about, and make the decision to do the things that will make us happier, healthier, etc., in the long run. Or the things we think that will do so, because we can’t know for sure before we experience them.
One thing is certain, whatever you do — there will be sucky times.
