Why easy is the enemy.

What are you willing to do to improve everything?

Hello friends. I hope that as you read this, you are well in place, spirit and health.

It has been several weeks since I have written anything because I haven’t had anything new that’s of value to share with you. Each day, I went to the mailbox I keep in my meditation space and found it empty. Rather than respond in frustration, anger or even fear, instead I met the empty space with peace and patience.

Some tell me to just write each day and hit publish. Just write. That is a constant theme on Substack. You only improve your craft by writing. Something valuable will eventually come or you will prune away the noise and the signal, or the essence of what you are writing about will eventually come forth. Perhaps.

But I don’t come up with what I write about. I co-create it by being connected with Source. Source, The Universe, The Quantum Field, God, Benevolent Creator, Universal Consciousness, Mother Nature or whatever label you’d like to use. You can affix your personal choice here.

As an endurance athlete who has for years followed a coach and structured training plans, I have ridden and raced with riders who just ‘log miles’. Very little thought or intention is given. Just ride. Ride miles every week. Ride as many miles as you can. At some point these become ‘junk miles’. And if you have a near term purpose in your riding, like training for say a 200-mile gravel bike race, junk miles are useless.

However, if you use riding to deal with anxiety, PTSD, general health or simply for sheer enjoyment of it, there is no such thing as ‘a junk mile.’ So, it depends. Depends on what you want and who you are. Your journey depends on what you want out of it. And what you are willing to put into it.

Hard is not always the answer but I will tell you that hard experiences are more memorable than easy ones.

Remember something that is very important. I am only writing for two people. Me and you.

If you have found this Substack either organically or through someone else, you were meant to find it. So, I am writing this right now for just me and for you. That’s it. For our benefit. And well-being Hard stop. Junk miles here are disingenuous. If I fake it, make it up or write what others want to read, it is a waste of my time, yours and it will not be received well by the Universe. After all, there is a co-author here.

There is no click bait content for allure. I don’t use ChatGPT for titles or for editing and improving content. This is simply me and Source energy co-creating something. My primary goal from this isn’t to make money from you. I have a job. And this isn’t it. If you want to subscribe, great. If you want to donate via a paid subscription, awesome and I appreciate that. It’s not the model though. There is no ‘x’ paid subscriber and ARR (Average Recurring Revenue) goal.

Rather, this is intensely personal for me and something I must do but do authentically. You need to know that. What is written is what is given to me. Not verbatim but it is surely guided from the idea to the conclusion.

So, I wait for something to show up. Like I said, I co-create what I write when I am well connected with Source. It flows to me and through me. I just make it physical by putting it out there in solid form. Like these words, where the energy has an opportunity to better take root and spread without being brushed away, overlooked or perhaps even forgotten when the mind and ego start to shout about this stuff is crazy bullshit.

Note to the fragile egos out there: this is all based in more science than the ego wants to believe or is willing to accept. For those still asleep, the ego indicates these words are not worth the time to read (translation: challenge the status quo), so the reader moves on.

Yes, ’3 shocking, hidden reasons Elon Musk is really in charge of our government’ will surely get more views. There is a reason Junk Food has so many addicted. It is easy, tasty (to some), cheap and makes you feel good for a moment. Junk food, like all such things is addictive. In large part because it is easy. It is obvious and obvious is easy.

As a society, we have come to like easy. In fact, we have come to rely on easy. No, we now largely depend on easy. However, easy is profoundly dangerous.

I’ve been in idle for a while also because my connection to Source got knocked off the dial. Recently something occurred which caused the TBI from last summer’s hit and run to flare up in a significant way. I have another doctor appointment on Tuesday. The symptoms are easing somewhat but still there and honestly the past few weeks have been, umm….different.

It should have been terrifying, but instead I found that I was more observant, curious and concerned. Not terrified though. There was no fear as most probably know it.

Fear on the other side is different. Other side of what? You are probably asking?

This is why you and I are here today. To unpack easy and fear and to understand.

An acquaintance, who happens to be a renowned keynote speaker and adventurist, Sterling Hawkins has recently been writing about finding your authentic self and the price of admission for that.

Recently he talked about a situation where overwhelming fear became very present and for a moment, he felt he might freeze during its grip. In a recent LinkedIn post he deftly transitioned to the fact that fear, and specifically fear of failure, of uncertainty or the unknown has become ever present and often for a growing number of people, crippling.

In part because we have declined into a habit of experiences in which we seek the elimination of discomfort because of the desire for easy and the fear of anything that disrupts easy.

Read that again because that came directly from Source.

Certainty can be found in immediate gratification. Easy is found in the lessening friction and effort creeping into all aspects of our lives, from travel navigation to fast food found on every corner, to apps which deliver everything immediately to even self-driving cars or even communities built around driving rather than walking or biking.

The less effort the better.

I won’t mention weight loss drugs for people who can afford it solely for vanity purposes. But if you think about it, they don’t take a GLP-1 Inhibitor because they lose weight and look thinner. They take it because it is easier and faster than the alternative which involves uncertainty, discomfort and hard work. We like doing easy but easy teaches you nothing, isn’t rewarding. Ok, I couldn’t help it and mentioned it. I had to. Too obvious. Easy makes you weaker especially when you have choices.

Back to Sterling. Below is an excerpt of one of his pieces. However, you can read the article which started all of this off at this link.

Be honest: when fear shows up, what do you do?

Freeze?
Overthink?
Retreat to the comfort of what you already know?

You’re not alone.

89% of people are worried about losing their jobs.
Many are concerned about food and energy shortages.
A majority fear inflation, climate change, and even nuclear war.

This constant worry doesn’t just overwhelm us—it divides us.

It polarizes communities and makes us feel disconnected and powerless.

But fear isn’t the real problem. The real problem is what we’ve lost:

Trust.

-Trust in yourself.
-Trust in your team.
-Trust in what’s possible.

Without trust, fear takes over.

It keeps us stuck in old patterns, clinging to what’s familiar, even when it no longer serves us.

The question is: how do we rebuild trust—in ourselves, our teams, and the future?

That’s it from Sterling.

Below was my response, which became the DNA for this piece.

What do you trust in? Trust is based in belief and acceptance. What do you trust? Do you accept what you trust? You may believe it; you may even know it but not trust it. I know that junk food is bad for you. I haven’t had a Taco Bell burrito or a McDonald’s Big Mac in 15 years. A diet soda in about the same. Even alcohol is in the rear-view mirror.

You see, we often freeze in our existing habits. Why? The effort put into something hard with an uncertain outcome ceases to be worth it.

While freezing is a valid action in some circumstances where hiding is the best option (like from say an active shooter), most times it isn't. Fear can either be a powerful amplifier or a dangerous distraction, depending on the situation.

But in the end, most of what we as Western society fear is nothing but an illusion we personally create. What doing supremely hard things, or persevering through terrible things or both, delivers to you to amazing things:

1. Discovering or rediscovering who you really are.

2. Freedom from being scared.

The hard things faced are not the terrible demons we conjure up there to destroy us but instead are often liberating angels there to free us.

Hard things are never easy but are always valuable, if you can find the value and hold onto it. More importantly, the hard thing or the terrible thing is NEVER the last chapter. Instead, it is often the first.

“Yeah, but what if you lose everything as a result of some terrible event.”

Ok. I have and I am still here. Many victims of the LA fires have. Those that have unlocked the door to the other side are resilient. They are already up, dusting themselves off and moving again. Their lives are not over. Perhaps a beautiful new chapter is beginning. It depends on where you are energetically (again the chart for your review is below which should help you pinpoint where you reside currently), your perspective and who you really are.

Others, well they are victims who are frozen in their helplessness. Everything is energy which vibrates. Things that happen, your response, your thoughts and actions.

“Yeah, but if you die in the process, it’s over. If something is so dangerous you can die, it should be feared and probably not done.”

Ok. I was riding my bike and hit by a truck. I died and made it to the other side. I wrote about that. Some may fear death. Really, they fear the uncertainty. Me, I am not. You can just as easily die from a life of junk food. Hell, you can be walking down the street and die. New Orleans. You can go to school. Tragically, pick any week in the U.S. for one or more examples.

Fear, like pain, changes in terms of how it is perceived once you pay the price and unlock the door to understand who you truly are and awaken from the walking sleep most are in. Once on the other side of unlocking the door (as previously mentioned), fear becomes something entirely different than most understand and experience.

Think of fear like water. On the easy side, fear is a pelting hailstorm (water). Here fear demands full attention, causes damage and something to be avoided like the plague. Sterling points this out in his article and LinkedIn excerpts.

On the other side of hard, difficult or terrifying, fear is reduced to simply a mist (still water). Fear is still present from time to time but no longer the loudest voice in the room or a constant companion.

Instead on this other side, fear and the unknown is appreciated for what they are not for the terrible apparitions we believe them to be on the easy side. Here, they don’t embody the same characteristics as the hail example or the same reaction. Instead, here they are simply mist.

On this side, fear is something to be noted and appreciated as you continue your journey unimpeded. On the other side of hard, there is nothing to fear. Nothing. When you ditch the reliance on easy, embrace whatever hard things you face, you will come to know or be re-introduced to your true self, the essence of who and what you are and what you are capable of. Oddly, on this side, the hard things you avoided on the other side cease to be as hard. Your perception and tolerance changes.

On this side is also Trust with a capital T. Here you find Trust in who you really are. What you know to be true. You will Trust in who is still there, walking with you. The ones who didn’t quit either or are still trying. The ones who didn’t hit the easy button and opt out. Trust and understanding are found on the other side of hard.

You will also have the ability to help others make the trek to this side of hard and that is an amazing gift for a select few.

You, the one reading these words, are you one of those people?

Chose something other than easy and you will wake up Neo. Do not choose the flat path but the one that soars upwards over the hill past the horizon. Beyond your line of sight. When you do this, the first chapter of your real life can finally begin.