We’ve all heard the phrase “when the going gets tough” a hundred times. Whether it is followed by a piece of insightful motivation, a cry of frustration, or even said standing alone, we have heard it. Sometimes I get frustrated because I think the “going” is “tough” when it’s really not. The only way that I can explain this feeling is to say that my frustration occasionally comes from normalcy and mundaneness. For me, it is almost more difficult when my life is spinning, my mind wandering viciously seeking an activity I can do to better myself. This happens when the “going” gets easy.

When the going gets easy I find myself falling into this slump of Netflix and popcorn, re-watching sob story movies, and a wardrobe that consists of dad’s t-shirts and an absence of pants.

Granted, everyone deserves a break from challenge and struggle, from change and adversity, every now and then….

BUT

When the going gets easy, I am not the same person. I settle for mediocrity. I don’t have productive rest. I struggle to have “me” time.

When the going gets tough, I am challenged. I dare mediocrity to confront me. I rest at the end of the day when all is finished. I praise Jesus for “me” time.

My whole life I have surrounded that phrase…“when the going gets tough” to be negative. Daily I continue to realize that it’s just the opposite. Yes, we struggle. We encounter tribulations and trials that we cannot win. That is why we’re still here. That is why we still try. Because we have failed a million and three times, yet there is some factor that pushes us to be better. Whatever your intrinsic or extrinsic motivation may be, it is there and it is alive.

When the going gets easy, we lose that fire for a second or two. Mediocrity is intriguing because it is a way out of sweating through the harder hiking trail. Laying in bed all day seems like the best solution to boredom because we lose sight of the passions that we have for daily activities. Trust me, this happens to me ALL the time.

It is so incredibly powerful to recognize this truth. Sometimes life is difficult, sad even, because it has gotten too textbook.

Go on a spontaneous date, go cliff jumping, take a freezing cold shower, order something CRAZY that you would never order on a normal night out to eat, call an old friend, write your best friend a letter and mail it, turn up the radio and dance to yourself (make sure you look in the mirror because I promise you will laugh at yourself), read a book that will make you think hard, go to a thrift store and buy a pair of rollerblades and relive your childhood for an afternoon.

JUST DO IT.

It’s so easy to blame extenuating circumstances for our dull mood. Sometimes a mental illness tries hard to control our thoughts and feelings about the sunshine and the birds in the sky. Sometimes an ex boyfriend decides to suck a little more and drunk text you, trying to steal your joy. Those are all stinky things. They are real and they are not fun, but they happen all the time. That’s the true mundane. The anger, the hatred, the anxiety, the fear…those feelings settle in to our lives and become normal incredibly quickly.

Challenge yourself to be tough. Make the going tough. Tough can be so redeeming.