Difficult Accomplishments
September 2, 2008
I’m becoming more and more convinced that the best way to set yourself up for success in losing weight is not to make it easy on yourself, but instead to embrace the difficulty of the process. If you think of it like a game then — like any game — the challenge is not only accepted but welcomed. The challenge is the whole point. And you end up pulling the rug out from under the thought process that says, “This is too hard. I want to stop.” When I was a kid I used to go out in my driveway and shoot the basketball around for hours. I could have had the hoop lowered so it was just three feet off the ground and then went and dropped the ball in while standing over it, but that’s not a compelling way to spend an afternoon. And only doing easy things in your life isn’t a compelling way to spend a life either.
Uh oh, said Morris Bird III to himself, here we go again. He was thinking of Mrs. Dallas’ weakness for speeches.
Mrs. Dallas’ face had no expression. “You just think about that for a moment,” she said. “For instance, in those days the children sometimes had to walk miles to school. And I mean miles. Have any of you walked even so much as one mile? I doubt it. Not that I blame you. Why walk when you can go wherever you want in a streetcar or a bus? Only stupid people walk when they can ride. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that what people are always telling you? Feet were invented before wheels, but so what? Getting somewhere on wheels is more comfortable and that’s what progress is all about, isn’t that so? But is comfort all that good? Doesn’t comfort maybe make us lazy? That’s something to think about, isn’t it? What I mean is — we all want to accomplish something. That’s the secret of what everything’s all about — this business of wanting to accomplish something. But if everything is made too easy for us, how can we accomplish? I mean really accomplish. the more things we have helping us, the harder the accomplishing. We get too spoiled. We give up too easily.
…
Mrs. Dallas unfolded her arms and made a series of gentle swooping gestures. “Yes,” she said, “one of the best feelings there is is the accomplishing of something that’s difficult. It’s something that’s yours. It’s something no one can take away from you. And it’s brave too, very brave. Determination means courage, and courage means you’re a real person. And it doesn’t have to be the most earthshattering act either. It could be telling yourself you’re going to walk a mile and then going out and walking it. Or two miles. Or telling yourself I’m not going to chew gum for a week and then keeping your word to yourself. This is called dignity. It helps your selfrespect.”
