Strength is Rare

Strength is rare.

And society likes it like that.

They want you be weak, soft, comfortable.

Discomfort is seen as a disorder, an invisible fence to keep you solidly within your zone of certainty, narrowing by the second.

“Don’t even bother with that. Come back to the couch, sink in and relax. You’ve had it hard, detach from discomfort and let the dopamine flow.”

Until every piece of discomfort is systematically removed bit by bit.

And, if they have their way – society wants you weaker. Articles drop regularly about how wanting to be strong is disordered and how weakness is the real virtue.

Here’s something people might not want to hear…

If you feel weak…maybe it’s because you are weak.

And in order to get stronger, you have to feel weak for a while, get your butt kicked and be bad before you get better. Really, really embarrassingly bad sometimes.

It’s the price of admission.

It’s pretty simple.

If you’re having a hard time doing hard things.

It’s because they’re f—king hard.

The reason you have a hard time with them is not because of society, your mentality or lack of support. There’s not a grand conspiracy, or a plot against you. Sometimes you just butt up against the reality of life.

When you try something that’s really hard. It’s because they’re designed to be hard. And it’s why they’re worth doing.

There’s a trend these days to lower the bar. To make things easier. So no one feels uncomfortable. So you never have to feel the pain of loss, defeat, or inadequacy.

But that’s what separates the people who do stuff from the people who talk about it.

If you lower the bar to the average, the only thing that drops is the average. And a race to the bottom begins.

Weakness is not a virtue. Incompetence is not a point of pride.

It leaves you rudderless, helpless and waiting for something to save you that’s not coming.

The bad news is being weak is more common than ever.

The good news is that you don’t have to be. 

Be strong.

Be impossible.

Be rare.