Working Uphill

Some days are all uphill.

There are times when I start at the bottom of a big hill and, no matter how hard and long I work, I do not get very far.

They are low gear days. It feels like the weight of the world rests on my shoulders, that building momentum is beyond me. It is easy for me to get tired and frustrated, to feel like giving up and going back to bed.

I like to see myself as so good at what I do, so skilled and talented, that my days flow from one high point to the next. If I really am an activist contemplative leader, can I not rise above the obstacles that hold most people down?

If I really am doing the work that has drawn me to do it, should it not be a joy rather than a series of challenges?

Work can be difficult. As my father would say, that is why they call it work. If it were all bliss and rainbows, they would probably get someone else to do it.

In my work there is really just one person who creates most of the difficulty for me. There is one person who often looks at a situation and sees it as an uphill struggle. Once I can get that one person to pause, take a breath, to remember that good work is rarely easy, the work becomes more enjoyable. That person is, of course, me.

My seeing work as an uphill climb comes from the same place as the values that inspire me to do my best work.

I am learning to see work more deeply, but sometimes it is working uphill.

How do you deal with working uphill?

Is your work fulfilling, annoying, both, or even more?

[Image by Valerie Everett]