“I love the fight and when things are easy, I hate it,” — Ernst Shackleton
The greatest things in life are earned and then enjoyed. Yes, winning a free vacation and lounging on the beach care and expense free is great. But it is a different kind of happiness.
There is a different kind of joy associated with buying something on credit vs. buying something after years of saving.
Through the fight is growth.
Through the fight is maturation.
Through the fight is The Process.
In the story The Alchemist, the protagonist sold his sheep and set off to find his Personal Legend, his destiny. 12 hours into his journey, he thought he had everything figured out. 24 hours into his journey, he knew he had lost everything and knew that he had nothing figured out.
The easy road was blocked.
He had to fight.
He had to stumble and decide to keep going.
The subtext of the story is rich with all the incredibles insights, joy, and growth that he experiences as part of the fight. If it was easy, and he achieved his Personal Legend in those first 12–18hrs — more would have been lost than gained.
Take the easy road, the flat paved road.
I’ll take the dirt road, the one less less traveled, the one that that takes me over the mountains and across the desert — I love the fight.
