Doing Things the Hard Way
Whenever anyone decides to do something challenging there is one thing they can count
on and that is that the universe will say to them, “A challenge! I will make it more challenging
still!” You can still do the hard thing, but my experience is that it will always contain just that
little extra sauce of unexpected and unfair difficulty. True story. I once had to take a statistics
class. This was scary for me; math having always been my worst subject. But I had worked hard
and so was only moderately terrified until I walked into the testing center (located in the
dungeon, I mean basement of the building) and saw this inspirational sign, “Abandon Hope All
Ye Who Enter Here.” NOOO! Who hangs a sign like that in a testing center? For any other test,
I would have thought this was hysterically funny. But you can’t say that to me about a math test!
Sweating, I joined the other lost souls in the room. It was silent, but I could easily hear the
wailing and gnashing of teeth going on just under the surface. Somehow, I escaped and even
achieved a dazzling A- in the class. It just goes to show that you can overcome no matter what
the universe throws at you. At least sometimes.
Sometimes, but not always. My husband and I decided to make a foray into eating right
and getting some exercise. Virtuously, we set out to walk around the neighborhood. We hadn’t
gone far, when our neighbors who owned a restaurant drove by, leaped out of their car, literally
put free ice-cream cones into our hands, jumped back into their car and zoomed away. Oh well.
Chalk one up to the universe.
The most recent obstacle made me put my hands on my hips and shout to the skies,
“Really? Can I not have just one small accomplishment without something ridiculous
happening?” The answer, of course, is “no.” For reasons that are unclear to me, I decided that
February was the perfect time to do a Lazy Man Iron Man. This is a cool sounding event that,
like almost all things that are good for you, is actually no fun at all. The idea is to complete a full
iron-man triathlon. That means a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a full marathon 26.2
miles. But instead of doing it all at once you have a whole month to complete the distances. For
me, the swim is the worst part, 88 laps of tedium. The pool near my house was, of course,
closed. But I got myself a one-week membership to a nice athletic club, thinking I could get the
swim over with in four sessions. Obstacle overcome! “Ha! Take that universe!” The first three
sessions went fine (not counting my clumsy slowness, the chlorine and cold of course). But then
fate, sensing that I might actually finish something that was hard for me and feel good about it,
broke the swimming pool. It was a dirty trick. Swimming is something that I have to psych
myself up to do. I had been looking forward all week to being done and celebrating. Now I’d
have to wait until Monday. Wait, no. probably Thursday. “Sorry, they’re hoping to be done next
week.”
But I outlasted the problem (I had no choice) and finished the race. I also learned
something. I learned that the Lazy Man was much harder for me this time than it had been when
I did it 12 years ago. Will this lesson stop me from trying it again when I’m even older and more
rickety? I doubt it. I’ve learned many lessons in life, but common sense is not one of them.
on and that is that the universe will say to them, “A challenge! I will make it more challenging
still!” You can still do the hard thing, but my experience is that it will always contain just that
little extra sauce of unexpected and unfair difficulty. True story. I once had to take a statistics
class. This was scary for me; math having always been my worst subject. But I had worked hard
and so was only moderately terrified until I walked into the testing center (located in the
dungeon, I mean basement of the building) and saw this inspirational sign, “Abandon Hope All
Ye Who Enter Here.” NOOO! Who hangs a sign like that in a testing center? For any other test,
I would have thought this was hysterically funny. But you can’t say that to me about a math test!
Sweating, I joined the other lost souls in the room. It was silent, but I could easily hear the
wailing and gnashing of teeth going on just under the surface. Somehow, I escaped and even
achieved a dazzling A- in the class. It just goes to show that you can overcome no matter what
the universe throws at you. At least sometimes.
Sometimes, but not always. My husband and I decided to make a foray into eating right
and getting some exercise. Virtuously, we set out to walk around the neighborhood. We hadn’t
gone far, when our neighbors who owned a restaurant drove by, leaped out of their car, literally
put free ice-cream cones into our hands, jumped back into their car and zoomed away. Oh well.
Chalk one up to the universe.
The most recent obstacle made me put my hands on my hips and shout to the skies,
“Really? Can I not have just one small accomplishment without something ridiculous
happening?” The answer, of course, is “no.” For reasons that are unclear to me, I decided that
February was the perfect time to do a Lazy Man Iron Man. This is a cool sounding event that,
like almost all things that are good for you, is actually no fun at all. The idea is to complete a full
iron-man triathlon. That means a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a full marathon 26.2
miles. But instead of doing it all at once you have a whole month to complete the distances. For
me, the swim is the worst part, 88 laps of tedium. The pool near my house was, of course,
closed. But I got myself a one-week membership to a nice athletic club, thinking I could get the
swim over with in four sessions. Obstacle overcome! “Ha! Take that universe!” The first three
sessions went fine (not counting my clumsy slowness, the chlorine and cold of course). But then
fate, sensing that I might actually finish something that was hard for me and feel good about it,
broke the swimming pool. It was a dirty trick. Swimming is something that I have to psych
myself up to do. I had been looking forward all week to being done and celebrating. Now I’d
have to wait until Monday. Wait, no. probably Thursday. “Sorry, they’re hoping to be done next
week.”
But I outlasted the problem (I had no choice) and finished the race. I also learned
something. I learned that the Lazy Man was much harder for me this time than it had been when
I did it 12 years ago. Will this lesson stop me from trying it again when I’m even older and more
rickety? I doubt it. I’ve learned many lessons in life, but common sense is not one of them.