The Possible

In the deepest, darkest, coldest moments, nothing seems possible. Those moments where you have to get up really early and it feels like you are still in the dark of night. Those moments where you are struggling so much on the inside and have to keep pushing through for the outward image. Those moments where something feels so physically and emotionally hard, and each step is a gargantuan effort and demand just to make the slightest bit of progress forward.

Those aren’t the moments you make big choices or ask big questions or make big changes. These moments will always exist, but their purpose isn’t to be there as a pivoting point or as a point of change. Their purpose is to be there as a reminder to just keep following the plan. Just keep moving forward doing the thing you were already planning to do – no changes or doubts or diversions from the path.

I remind myself in these moments, “just stick to the plan.” A constant reminder that as things get hard, in those real, raw moments, where you don’t want to do what you know you are supposed to do, or it is hard to start what you are supposed to be starting, that there is a way. “You already have a plan,” I whisper to myself. “Don’t change it or give up on it; just stick to the plan.”

In the layers of life, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of mundane moments, sitting on the edge of thinking things should be different, better, easier, more exciting. In reality though, so much of life is just a series of average moments stacked together, working towards something grander. You have to start to believe in those simple moments. Those ones where it’s simple things, and simple pleasures, and repeated efforts over and over again. Because this is living. So much of what it takes to make other things possible and make progress forward is actually just a lot of time spent in that grinding, grating, relentless, doing phase. There is nothing fancy or glamorous, no big finish line or reward – just another layer stacked onto the foundation and another intentional forward progression.

It’s like this in running, where most days you just go out, do the run on the plan and then carry on. It’s like this in work, where many days, you just do all the day-to-day things to keep moving forward and stay afloat in business. It’s like this in life – a series of repeated, simple tasks that are part of the plan, that some days are way harder and more mundane than others, but that more or less are just the same.

It’s not that any of this is bad or needs to be boring. We can exist in this duality, where things can be hard and mundane, but also joytful and worth doing. I don’t think of it as a grind, as much as grinding – putting in this persistent, committed effort, with dedication and drive, knowing that it is all for something greater on the other side.

There will be days when everything is hard to start, hard to keep going, hard to push through in the middle. Just stick to the plan. Don’t think about what is or isn’t possible in those moments – a lot will seem impossible. Instead, remember that the possible is in starting – you are already doing the possible. It lies in being consistent and showing up to start, when everybody else would have stayed in bed or gone back home.