"Nothing good was ever easy." 

It's a quote derived from Theodore Roosevelt who said, more specifically, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…"

My rebel self wants rage against this. "Life doesn't have to be so hard!" And yet, the most prized accomplishments, the most beautiful moments came because we cared enough to work harder for something.

Did we need to suffer endlessly? No. And I think that's the true distinction here. Something can be challenging without causing suffering. Some stretching, yes. A little sore, of course. Some things toppled over or released? Definitely. But we don't have to spend time whirling in the downward spiral of difficulty. 

In fact, keeping that extra layer out of the equation will speed up the process of working toward what we want to accomplish. Simply by acknowledging that the work IS hard allows us  keep going and stop the voices in our heads that shame us for...