Anything worthwhile requires work
I am currently living inside a snow globe, and wonderful beautiful magical snow globe called Linköping, Sweden. I have been posting photos of this winter wonderland and received mixed emotions – most people ooh and aah, and want to visit and see the beauty with their own eyes, but some people are horrified of the amount of snow, and how cold it looks. Even my neighbors have been shaking their heads and complaining about the amount of inconvenience this snow brings. Yet, snow is a perfect reminder why it’s worth while to work hard for something special.
Last week when this snow started coming down with big fluffy flakes it packed on our yard and driveway. It took me four hours on the first day to shovel the snow (if you do it the right on the beginning – the rest of the winter is much easier). I used muscles my entire body had forgotten I had, and I was in real pain by the end of the day.
It takes extra ten minutes on the mornings to pack kids in snow gear each morning to stay warm and covered just to walk to school. Snow brings inconvenience and hard work? You bet.
Yet I love every bit of it. The snow shoveling? Best workout ever. Looking out of my window right now? Priceless. I am watching geese swimming in the river – they are warming up, the river water is warmer than the temperate outside- and somebody is cross country skiing cross the river. Everything is white, even the sky, promising more snow coming down later today. There is just something so peaceful about snow that it can’t but make me happy.
The temperature dropped this weekend making the river fog and I wanted to catch the first morning rays on camera with the beautiful morning fog, and asked my son for a morning walk with me. “It’s cold outside,” he said. “Yes, it is. And you have to bundle up and it’s going to feel like so much work.. but let’s go and create an amazing childhood memory for you” I said. And so we did and we walked through the knee deep snow and took photos and watched the birds in the river and the morning sun making diamonds in the snow. So simple, yet so beautiful and I hope we both remember our morning walk in the knee deep snow forever.
Today I am encouraging you to live a little and work for things that you love.
My husband and I worked very hard for us our move from New York to Sweden and it was absolute insanity at times. The hard work continues as struggles to live in a different culture surrounded by people speaking different language than ours. Yet this is the best thing that cold have happened to us, and we feel like lottery winners each day and we still keep saying to each others “can you believe it? We really live in Sweden now.”
Whether you want to work on Super Big Things and changes in your life, like our move to Europe, or work on Small Things in Life, like shoveling snow, I encourage you to work hard to get where you want to be. The feeling of
doing the best you can gives you pride, and the work you put towards your dreams will feel good, even when it drains you. The funny thing about human mind is that we sometimes want things just handed to us and things just happen, yet the things that we work for or we have to suffer for are the ones we appreciate the most. Working hard IS living life to the fullest. Working hard is the only way you will make your dreams come true.
Your turn
What are you working on? Are you tackling some big Holiday projects? Making already plans for the next year?
