The Three Lies

Two and a half years into college, I made a massive discovery: classes could be easy.

I had spent years believing school was supposed to be hard. I loved English but found the classes boring. And when I realized that reading Beowulf every year for the rest of my career didn't sound like a life, I switched majors to Organizational Communication — and started getting straight A's.

Not because I suddenly got smarter. Because I finally chose something that fit.

I translated that lesson into every career move after. Billboard sales. Newspaper ad sales. Headhunting. Architecture marketing. Running an agency. Every time I chose something that was enjoyable, I found that it was also easeful. And I could make money doing something I loved.

It could be easy. It was allowed to be easy.

But how often do we try to make things harder than they really are — just because we think they have to be?

Do These Sound Familiar?

Most of us were raised on three beliefs:

Life is hard.
We've all heard this hundreds of times. But is it? Or would we just be bored if it wasn't?

Work isn't fun.
When was the last time you wished someone a happy Friday eve? Or started getting Sunday Scaries? What if work wasn't "work"? Would we have to stop calling it that if it wasn't?

Love hurts.
This is the one that cuts the deepest. We're taught you have to fall into love — as if it's a hole. That you have to do whatever it takes to keep it. That you have to keep trying no matter what. Even when it's destroying you.

What if none of this is true?

One of my favorite questions to ask myself is: What if everything I believed before now were no longer true?

Life can be hard. Work isn't always fun. Love can hurt. I'm not pretending those experiences don't exist. But what if all of it could also be easy, enjoyable, and full of optimism?

What if it was just... easy?

My friend Jen Hill lives by a question that takes this even further. Every time she feels gratitude for something, she asks: How could it get better than this?

And the thing is — it often does.

So if we started to believe that everything can be easy and everything could get better, how different would life be? Work? Love?