I was at a berry farm today with my family; It was a lovely location incorporating rolling hills, a vast blue lake at the bottom and pine forests all around. Sound idyllic? It was, especially considering the magnificent weather here in Finland at the moment and the enjoyment of sharing it with a group of special people.
In the fields were many people bent at their work, toiling away harvesting those tasty little things we love so much; Berries! I call it toil however it's probably not a true description of what was actually going on in the fields considering that each of the hunched figures had paid 5 Euro's to have the right to be there, bucket in hand, collecting those little red nuggets of berry-godness!
There's a saying that goes, "hard work never killed anyone" which of course isn't really true. I mean, consider for a moment a slave, captured in battle by the ancient Greeks of Roman's, chained to a bench in the bowels of a Trireme (warship) hauling an oar to the beat of a drum and under the attentive ministrations of the whip-wielding boss-man. I'm sure many slaves died from that particular form of hard work. I'm certain also that many many people have died from hard work in the history of man. (Man meaning mankind.)
There's not many Greek, Phoenecian or Roman Trireme's getting around these days, (if any), however hard work goes on every second around the world nonetheless, and of course many shun it preferring the less difficult option of negativity, blame and laziness.
I subscribe to a concept in life, an ethos, that goes like this, "design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default". To me it means getting after the results one desires, owning one's success and failure, learning from both and designing a future accordingly. It also means taking responsibility for one's actions and reactions and many other things that essentially, in my humble opinion, make up an ideal life. Performing those tasks takes effort, let's call it hard work, because not always is the best course the easiest, not always is the easiest course the best. Life is hard sometimes and easy at other's however no matter what point the wheel of life is at during its inexorable cycle hard work, discipline and ownership will draw a greater result than blame, negativity and disinhibitation.
I've been travelling now for about six weeks and in my journey throughout the United Kingdom and now Finland I have come across many people and observed their actions and reactions, listened to their conversations and even been involved in many of those conversations and I've made an observation. It seems the people who apply the positive attributes (as above) to their thoughts, actions and deeds achieve greater fulfilment in life. No surprise really considering I myself apply these things and feel the subsequent results align with my ethos: "Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default".
I am no guru, am not always the smartest person in the room, (far from it) and am not weighed down by multiple university degrees however...I have lived life, been knocked down, risen only to be knocked down again and...Rise again. I work hard at life, at being the best version of me that I can be as often as possible and at applying the ownership-responsibility-discipline ethos that has provided a bountiful harvest in my 48 years of life.
So, hard work...Yes, it could kill you but probably won't. What it can do however is give you an opportunity to excel, to reach your goals whatever they are and to help you design and create your ideal life. Whether that hard work is at your daily job, relationship, the gym, on your personal development regime or even picking berries I believe it's worth it just for the benefit gained from striving to be the best version of yourself possible.
Go on, put yourself in danger of creating that ideal life. Apply the ownership-responsibility-discipline ethos and see where it leads. Now...It's time to eat some berries, the fruits of today's labour.