Hello, dearest one,

That’s me at my 500th class of the Lagree method at my local studio, Scorch.

500.

500 times I suited up, got my ass to class, sweated and swore, and worked at my edge for 45 fiendish minutes. 

It never gets easier. 

The 500th class was just as hard as the first.

True, I’m stronger at #500 than I was at #1 or #10 or #100.

True, I’ve learned the names of the exercises, can pace myself, and know when to lean in and when to back off based on what injuries I might be nursing at any given moment.

But it’s just as hard now as it was back then.

Even so, it’s a really big milestone. Thanks for celebrating with me by reading this.

I’m celebrating not because I zoned out, grit my teeth, and somehow made it through 500 stupidly hard classes.

I’m celebrating because I didn’t zone out, grit my teeth, or just make it through.

I knew it was going to be hard and I came anyway. 

Why? Why would I do this? Why would I keep coming back to something that’s really hard and never gets easier?

Believe it or not, the pay-off is not this swell photo opp. I mean, I love those gold balloons and getting to add my signature to the list of other students who’ve come 500 times and counting.

But the real reward is … well, being able to do hard things with grace, again and again and again.

For me (maybe for you too?), about 70% of life is really hard.

Sure, some things get easier, but just when I get a groove or figure something out, life changes (can you say, pandemic … perimenopause … regime change … my child becoming a teenager …). And then it’s hard again.

So, since a majority of my life is hard, I have to keep becoming a person who can do hard things with grace.

I have to keep becoming a person who says, 
“Let it be hard.”

However.

Something equal and opposite and paradoxical is also true.

I have been known to make things harder than they need to be. Perfecting. Second-guessing. Doing one more revision. Pulling a late-nighter. (Maybe you too?)

So, it’s really important that I also keep becoming a person who says, “Let it be easy.”

I need to keep becoming a person who, for the other 30% of life …

… Misses a deadline in order to stay healthy and sane. 

… Orders takeout instead of cooking and cleaning afterward.

… Says yes, please do come over and drop off soup when I’m sick, even though it’s out of your way.

… Admits, this can be done tomorrow so I’m closing the laptop for today.

… Snuggles the cats.

… Skips out on a really hard class at Scorch and sleeps in.

… Makes things 500 times easier by getting to some sunshine and sand in the coldest, darkest months of the year.

Friend, there’s got to be some kind of serenity prayer in here somewhere …

Something like,

O Great Goddess,

please grant me the strength to let things be hard

the softness to let things be easy

and the wisdom to know the difference.

To all the hard and easy parts of your life,