Good morning! Make sure to vote tomorrow.
I have taken to saying that one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. In a week where we are deciding on our elected representatives, it’s especially important to keep it positive. Here’s the quote:
“When I hear someone sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?'”
— Sydney J. Harris
Now at first glance this one seems just a bit cruel. I mean, you have someone who is already having a tough time of it. They are sighing and lamenting how difficult things are. You know that they are struggling. And yet here you come with a cutting remark putting them in their place.
Okay, perhaps I’m taking this a bit too literally. He probably didn’t actually run around on the street, looking for people having a tough day and needle them with this remark. Perhaps it’s more of a rhetorical device. So what is he really getting at?
“Hard” is by definition a matter of degree. You cannot just have something that is hard. There must be something else to compare it to that is easier. There has to be a scale or frame of reference. So if you think something is hard, it might be useful to identify the easier item to compare it to. And figure out what kind of scale you are grading on too. “This calculus test is hard.” Okay. Compared to all the other calculus tests you took this year? Compared to a basic arithmetic test? Compared to chewing gum?
This can be helpful. You can’t say every project is hard. You can’t say every workday is hard. You can’t say every client is hard to deal with. If you do say this, then either your frame of reference is broken, or you’re just in the wrong job.
“Fine,” you say. “I can sum up this post in three words: Everything is relative.” And you’re right – so far.
But here’s where the true genius of this quote shows up. It’s not a calculus test or a work day that is being referenced. It’s “life.” Life. Life is hard. And the response is: “compared to what?” It is a clever response because what in the world are you comparing life to? Your past life? Someone else’s life? Chewing gum?
Here’s the thing about sayings like that: not only does it do you no good, but it actively hurts you. You stack up all the things you need to do into this big pile, and then you worry about how insurmountable that pile seems. You are defeating yourself.
So I’m going to try to use this quote as inspiration to not stack the deck against myself. I won’t use empty phrases like this to stymie my best efforts. Instead, I will keep my frame of reference. Life is hard. “Compared to what?” Heaven? Hell? Being a ghost? Chewing gum? No. Life is what it is. It is not easy or hard; it is what you make it. I have some work to get done this week; I had better get to it.
Have a great week everybody.