A few weeks ago I wrote about the notion that liking isn't the point. By that I meant that many of life's best opportunities for growth are not also pleasant. Today I posit that neither are they easy. 

 

I happened on a video that went up yesterday and already has four million views. Perhaps the total number of viewers is bloated, since I watched once myself, then again when John came by, and a third time to show the twins. In any case it chronicles the efforts of a quarantined engineer to create a squirrel feeder. He began by trying to provide for the birds and embarked on an adversarial relationship with the rodents that continuously upped their game to crash the party. What consumed his time for the following month was the design and implementation of an eight part obstacle course for squirrels, which utilizes the laws of physics and stretches them to the limits of their acrobatic and problem solving skills.

 

It's fantastic. I paused just to watch it all again. 

 

There are a wide spectrum of objectives at play for both the man and the squirrels, but none of them have anything to do with "easy". I am reminded of a string of stories I composed for my children many years ago about a little boy who chose to do things the hard way. I loved spinning them. They never tired of hearing them. 

 

Five of my friends are celebrating their daughters and son who recently graduated with MDs and JDs. While I didn't inquire about their choice of careers, I doubt that there were considerations like "I hear it's a breeze." 

 

If a life worth living was dependent on such metrics there would be no marathons. Olympics. Rock climbers. Gourmet chefs. Astronauts. World class cellists, one of whom played gratis for the whole world last weekend. 

 

In fact I notice that sometimes when accomplishments are not deemed difficult enough, say a twenty mile run, someone raises the stakes to create an Ironman. 

 

At least for today I will try to view my circumstances with a different criterion than whether they are the path of least resistance. In other words, I will aspire to be more like the squirrels.