“The first rule of holes, goes the adage, is that ‘if you find yourself in a hold, stop digging.’ This might be the most violated piece of commonsense wisdom in the world. Because what most of us do when something happens, goes wrong, or is inflicted on us is make it worse—first, by getting angry or feeling aggrieved, and next, by flailing around before we have much in the way of a plan. Today, give yourself the most simple and doable of tasks: just don’t make stuff worse.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 177)
“It had done me good to be somewhat parched by the heat and drenched by the rain of life.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, via Sunbeams (Page 109)
“But what is philosophy? Doesn’t it simply mean preparing ourselves for what may come? Don’t you understand that really amounts to saying that if I would so prepare myself to endure, then let anything happen that will? Otherwise, it would be like the boxer exiting the ring because he took some punches. Actually, you can leave the boxing ring without consequence, but what advantage would come from abandoning the pursuit of wisdom? So, what should each of us say to every trial we face? This is what I’ve trained for, for this my discipline!”
Epictetus, Discourses, via The Daily Stoic (Page 155)
“You will not grow if you sit in a beautiful flower garden, but you will grow if you are sick, if you are in pain, if you experience losses, and if you do not put your head in the sand, but take the pain and learn to accept it, not as a curse or punishment but as a gift to you with a very, very specific purpose.”
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, via Sunbeams (Page 91)
“Even with the support of others, it’s hard to struggle through hardship without sufficient motivation of your own.”
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit (Page 175)
61 Powerful Keep Moving Forward Quotes To Help You During Hard Times
Excerpt: Moving forward can be hard—especially when life is hard. These 61 keep moving forward quotes are powerful and will help you do just that.
Read More »61 Powerful Keep Moving Forward Quotes To Help You During Hard Times
“I may wish to be free from torture, but if the time comes for me to endure it, I’ll wish to bear it courageously with bravery and honor. Wouldn’t I prefer not to fall into war? But if war does befall me, I’ll wish to carry nobly the wounds, starvation, and other necessities of war. Neither am I so crazy as to desire illness, but if I must suffer illness, I’ll wish to do nothing rash or dishonorable. The point is not to wish for these adversities, but for the virtue to make adversities bearable.”
Seneca, Moral Letters, via The Daily Stoic (Page 90)
“Circumstances are incapable of considering or caring for your feelings, your anxiety, or your excitement. They don’t care about your reaction. They are not people. So stop acting like getting worked up is having an impact on a given situation. Situations don’t care at all.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 63)
“Whenever anything negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it, although you may not see it at the time. Even a brief illness or an accident can show you what is real and unreal in your life, what ultimately matters and what doesn’t.”
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 178) | Read Matt’s Blog on this quote ➜
Meaning of the Quote: “Where There’s Hardship, There’s Ease”
“Where there’s hardship, there’s ease.”
Quran
Beyond the Quote (Day 378)
At first glance, this statement seems like a contradiction. Where there’s hardship—tension, angst, and unease, seem to be the more appropriate pairings, wouldn’t you think? And while, yes, those tend to be the default feelings in response to hardship, they certainly aren’t the mandatory responses. In fact, there are no mandatory responses to any situation in life. It’s one of the few things that is actually 100% within our control—how we choose to respond to given situations. This becomes increasingly evident when you see someone masterfully navigate hard situations with ease and grace.
Read More »Meaning of the Quote: “Where There’s Hardship, There’s Ease”Choose Your Hard
“Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.
Unknown
Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.
Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard.
Communication is hard. Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.
Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”
Beyond the Quote (336/365)
We’re wired to follow the path of least resistance. But, choosing to do what’s easy now doesn’t last. In fact, in almost every case, it only makes life harder later. It’s the principle of delayed gratification (more on this below).
So, while life can be easier from choosing the easier options, the truth is, it’s only a temporary easier. Experiencing the “hard” in life is not a matter of if, but a matter of when. And take heed, hard now and hard later are not created equal.
Read More »Choose Your Hard“If it were easy then everyone else would find it easy as well. Which would make it awfully difficult to do important work, work that stands out, work that people would go out of their way to find. When difficulties arise, it might very well be good news. Because those difficulties may dissuade all the people who aren’t as dedicated as you are. It pays to seek out the hard parts.”
Seth Godin, Blog
“If terrible things have happened to you, you ought to have grown wise. If the worst possible events have befallen you, you should be the wisest of the lot. But instead of growing wise, most people become wounded. In a state of conscious response, it is possible to use every life situation—however ugly—as an opportunity for growth. But if you habitually think, ‘I am the way I am because of someone else,’ you are using life situations merely as an opportunity for self-destruction or stagnation.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 56)
Iain Thomas Quote on What To Do When The World Is Wearing You Down
“The world will always wear you down, so let it wear you down until only the good remains. Hold on to the incredible parts of you that survive.”
Iain Thomas, Every Word You Cannot Say (Page 93)
Beyond the Quote (180/365)
The world will always be this way. Life will continue to be relentless and will certainly try to wear you down. So, let it. If you can’t control the world, why bother trying to control it? Don’t resist what happens. Don’t resist what is. Let life send its blessings your way and let life send its storms, too. If the world is going to wear you down, let it wear down the worst parts of you. Don’t let it break down what’s beautiful. Don’t let it harden you up. Don’t let it steal away your vulnerability. Hold on to the parts of you that make you proud to be you. Hold on to hope and love and beauty and joy and gratitude and individuality. And let the storms wear down and wash away what’s faulty, unnecessary, and not you.
Read More »Iain Thomas Quote on What To Do When The World Is Wearing You Down“Illness is not the problem. You are the problem—as long as the egoic mind is in control. When you are ill or disabled, do not feel that you have failed in some way, do not feel guilty. Do not blame life for treating you unfairly, but do not blame yourself either. All that is resistance. If you have a major illness, use it for enlightenment. Anything ‘bad’ that happens in your life—use it for enlightenment. Withdraw time from the illness. Do not give it any past or future. Let it force you into intense present-moment awareness—and see what happens. Become an alchemist. Transmute base metal into gold, suffering into consciousness, disaster into enlightenment.”
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (Page 218)
Clay Jensen Quote on Choosing To Live and To Keep Moving, Whatever Happens.
“Whatever happens, keep moving. Get through it. Choose to live. ‘Cause even on the worst day, there are people who love you. There’s new music waiting for you to hear; something you haven’t seen before that will blow your mind in the best way. Even on the worst day, life is a pretty spectacular thing.”
Clay Jensen, Graduation Speech, 13 Reasons Why (Season 4)
Beyond the Quote (173/365)
If you’re going through hell… keep going. I mean, why would you want to stay in hell? Not moving doesn’t seem like an option when hell is where you find yourself—so don’t fool yourself if you’re in some kind of hellish reality. Keep moving. Whatever happens. No matter how hard things get. Keep moving forward in some kind of direction that’s going to take you away from where you are and out of the hell that you might find yourself in. What’s the alternative?
Read More »Clay Jensen Quote on Choosing To Live and To Keep Moving, Whatever Happens.