Hard

Some days it's all so hard. Fill in the blank for "it".

Your job is difficult.
Writing the book is taxing.
Starting your business is grueling.
Trying to get the new funding is onerous.
That Pilate's stretch is arduous.
Your relationship is wearing you thin.

Some days it's all so tiring that  I for one just want to go lay down on the couch and wait until the hard part passes.  Curl up with a trashy magazine or the remote, a big cup of tea and a blanket and linger.

Except I rarely do that. Most of us don't. Guilt gets in the way. We keep pushing. And we wonder.
Why is it so hard?  
Should it be?
Is the exhaustion we are feeling a sign maybe what we're trying to do isn't right? Or is this just simply the resistance that Steve Pressfield talks about or the "lizard brain" as Seth Godin calls it trying to sabotage us?

That answer is rarely easy. Most of the time it is the resistance to that  next level we are reaching for. That's part of the deal when you choose an unconventional life. It's also the reason why so many opt for a more conventional route. Happier does not mean easier.

But this is where so many of us get tripped up. We bail out because we think things are supposed to be simpler. We live in an On Demand world and so we wonder why is this not happening on demand? We're not making the progress somebody thinks we should be making so we press the button on that remote to  switch to the next screen.

Sometimes it's not the resistance. Sometimes it is time to change the channel. But how do we know that?

I'm not sure there is an easy answer. But I think it  involves pressing the pause button instead of stop and engaging in the underrated activity of breathing long enough to get out of your head and back into your body. Then listen. Your body will tell you what to do next. It might be as simple as writing a blog.

What do you do when it all seems to get too hard? 
How do you tell the difference between resistance and wrong?