The work never ends. It never stops. Onward and forward it must go, relentless in its persistent need to be there, forever waiting for you even as you trudge through the struggle it inflicts upon you. Life is relentless this way, a chisel against stone. Yet, if one wishes to feel the joy of purpose, then it must be faced. We must let the chisel help to mold us into something great.
Greatness is never achieved through osmosis. It does not come to us through sitting and waiting for life to grant us the opportunities we believe we crave. Or which we believe to deserve. Seldom are things granted for free without there being a cost hidden deep within — a cost we often would be reluctant to pay were we to truly understand. Still, the allure of the gains we make from these choices often tempt us into ignoring these trade-offs hidden from our immediate view, like a childhood deal made with one’s fingers crossed behind their back.
Work, though never guaranteed to bring fruit, is an antidote to this. It is through this effort where greatness comes forth.
The problem with work is that it rarely rewards one immediately — if at all. For the dream, though, the worthy goal, it must come.
Unrewarded effort is a guarantee, at least by our perception. Humanity in the modern world became addicted to immediate gains. This is not surprising, as we are wired for it. Think of how our ancestors might have approached a sudden find, such as an easy catch for prey, a bounty crop from a banner year of weather, or stumbling across some other great find in resources. These opportunities were rare and had to be taken advantage of. Yet now, bounty is almost ubiquitous with modern life. It is no wonder we lose our desire to even think to work for something, we’ve conditioned ourselves that it should be easy.
Misery follows, though. Dis-contentedness, boredom, and more come along for the ride, too. Something isn’t working even as we seem to be getting everything we could want or need handed to us with ease. Why else perhaps do we feel there’s something wrong?
It’s frustrating to know this, yet to continue to see how the work never seems to stop. Because it doesn’t. To do anything worthwhile, it shouldn’t. Strangely, there comes a sense of solace in this. It is an understanding of relaxing into the journey instead of a constant preoccupation with the supposed destination. Destinations seldom if ever are what we imagine, sometimes being more and more often less than whatever dreams held it aloft. Or it is simply that the achievements simply enter the state of being the new normal, with another, still loftier goal suddenly becoming what is all-consuming. Or maybe we slosh along the path with the destination in our view, resenting the effort as we feel like we are no closer today than yesterday.
If the journey is instead what we look upon as our focus… what could be the possibilities? If we were to recognize the pleasure of the work itself, the day to day, moment to moment fulfillment, there would be little need to have to remind ourselves to fight so hard to do so. Constant reminders are needed simply to keep us from getting too distracted by the pleasures of instant gratification. Despite that, the pressure to give in can be overwhelming, especially in light of how relentless and unwelcoming work can be.
Still, rewards will come. Maybe soon; maybe not in the way we ever expect or intend. Time might pass in great strides before one turns around only to see the great distance work carried them. Though whatever destination may not be near, often we come to better appreciate the gains we made over the course of our efforts rather than if that locale truly came into our view or not.
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Jeremy C Kester 
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