Why choosing the Hard thing still matters.

While shopping this week, I found myself wondering, What are we giving up for the sake of convenience? What hidden costs are we paying and not even realizing.

Now I’m just thinking out loud, that’s a lot of what this blog is, a place to write down thoughts, experience, and experiments.

What costs do we pay for the convenience of having our whole library at our fingertips, on our Ereaders? The joy of passing down a book you read in elementary school, that still has your handwritten name in the front? Or the excitement of finding a book we want to read at a second hand book store? And while I already explored this idea a bit on another post over in the Library.

This question goes a lot further than just our libraries, what about our kitchens? We can easily pick up a pie at the grocery store when we don’t have time to make one, but what about the memories of making pies with our grandma and mom and the smell from the oven? What about the ache in your arms from kneading the dough? What about the art of making pies beautiful? There is a huge difference between the compliment of bringing a pie you picked up at the grocery store, and the one you made.

Think about the cooking skills being lost thanks to convenience food- how many kids are growing up learning how to make enchiladas, or fry chicken fried steak. (I’m grateful for the hours I spend sitting on the kitchen counter with my mom and grandma, helping them cook, by the age of four I could explain how to make a good batch of sweet tea, and make chicken fried steak fingers)

At thanksgiving this weekend, while we were setting the table, my older cousin started switching the forks and spoons. Forks to the left, and spoons and knifes to right, because his grandma taught him to set the table when he was little, and even now as an adult and her gone, he corrected to silverware. And in case you were wondering its fork to the left because left and fork both have four letters, and spoon and knife to the right because right, knife and spoon, all have five letters. But we set the table “wrong” because we don’t have to set the table anymore, we eat off paper plates, and grab our plates and silverware in the kitchen. And while there is nothing wrong with that, I can’t help but feel like we’re missing something because of convenience.

How many times do we pick one thing over the other because it’s easier? How often do we choose the hard thing for the sake of doing the hard thing?

Sure, I can pick up a few pounds of Venison at the grocery store, but what about the memories of hunting with my dad? Learning the process of harvesting and processing a deer? What about just the disconnection we have from our food in this county because of convenience? Our food comes from plastic and paper bags, our meats, sitting in styrofoam wrapped in plastic. We don’t value the life that was given for our dinner, the work that went into growing the vegetables, or the time spend making bread for our plates. And its doesn’t taste as good. We don’t even realize the cost of our convenience.

Because we are surrounded by convenience and comfort most of the day, and by never leaving that we are making ourself softer. I just can’t help but wonder how much we are losing for the sake of convenience? In our spiritual lives? In our relationships? With our dogs? With family? With our education? Why are we setting the bar for our lives so low? Why are we so comfortable with low standards, and low impact on the world around us?

Every day we are making choices, and while some choice seem easy in the moment, what prices are we paying in the long term? The workouts we skipped this week? Our mobility and independence as we age? Brain Rotting instead of learning, and creating? The ability to reason. That friend we keep canceling plans on or just keep forgetting to call, are you sacrificing the relationship in the long term? Reading and studying the Bible? how many times do we say “I’ll get to it later” or “I’l do double tomorrow” and then its been a week. How does that affect our mental health, physical health, and spiritual health, our relationship with God? (And I’m just as guilty for all of these, most of these posts are more of reminder to me, that to anyone else, but hopefully they make you think)

There are scientific studies showing that when we choose to do the harder thing, we are building our mental strength. And if you're interested in reading more about this you should read the book Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.