We Either Make Ourselves Miserable Or We Make Ourselves Strong

The amount of work is the same

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

“Don Juan assured me that in order to accomplish the feat of making myself miserable I had to work in a most intense fashion, and that it was absurd. I had now realized I could work just the same in making myself complete and strong. ‘The trick is in what one emphasizes,’ he said. ‘We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.’”

Carlos Casaneda, via MoveMe Quotes

…The amount of work is the same? Let’s break this down.

First, what would we have to do in order to become miserable? As in, wretchedly unhappy or uncomfortable. For body? Eat junk and skip workouts? For mind? Immerse ourselves in crap environments and skip opportunities for growth and clarity? For emotion? Feed into our ego, moods, impulses, triggers, jealousy, possessiveness, hate—and leave them all unchecked?

Sounds like a good formula for misery to me.

And what about the opposite? What would we have to do in order to become remarkably happy and confident? For body? Eat clean and workout regularly? For mind? Immerse ourselves in stimulating and constructive environments that lead to growth and clarity? For emotion? Learn to control impulses and free ourselves from the possessive, ugly thoughts of the ego so that we can live more presently?

Sounds like a good formula for fulfillment to me.

Which begs the question: How does it add up that the amount of work required to become miserable is equal to the amount required to feel fulfilled?

How could it be that doing intense exercise is equal to the amount of work required to skip workouts and sleep in? Or that disciplining yourself to meditate or read a book adds up to the same amount of work as letting yourself vegetate or scroll through the socials? Or that confronting the pain of the past adds up to the same amount of work as going out and partying to forget about the past?

Being disciplined is way harder than being undisciplined, isn’t it?

…Not when you take into consideration the amount of work a person will go through to compensate for the uncomfortable…