Jared AxelrodWriter of Adventure

It was a Russell Davies blog post that alerted me to these mugs, which contain one of the best concepts spoken by a president, but with a helpful fill in the blank portion in place of the “go to the moon,” bit. JFK’s full quote is, of course:

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

The whole speech is here, but that’s the humdinger. “…not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills…”  That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?  Anybody can do the easy stuff. But it’s the hard stuff that defines us.

My wife and I have started embarking on couple of difficult things ourselves. One, is a new, tight budget that forces us to spend a lot less under the dream of spending more at one big go. Less comics every Wednesday, in order for a Hawaiian vacation (or a European one. Or a Japanese one)  It evens out, but it’s been difficult to stay within the narrow confines we’ve prescribed ourselves.  Difficult, but not impossible

But you know, we choose to do them not because they are easy…

Along those lines, we’ve decided to become serious about losing weight and getting into shape. We’ll both be thirty next year, and the goal is to enter our thirties in better shape than we entered our twenties—an easier goal than it sounds, considering how heavy I was at 19. I’ve been working out every morning, getting at least 50 push-ups in–if not some concentration curls and some lateral raise with the 20lbs barbell–before I stumble downstairs for breakfast. I’m going to purchase a bicycle (in case anyone was wondering where that costume commission money was going to) and JR’s gonna get her old one fixed up. We’ve streamlined our diet—not eating out as much for financial reasons has really helped with that—and all this eating right and exercising has apparently transformed us into one of those couples.

For example, just the other day, I said, in all seriousness, “It’ll be great to bike down to Whole Foods and pick up some protein powder.”

Clearly, we have past some point of no return.

Which brings up the question, if you do the hard often enough, does it become second nature? Perhaps, that’s the goal itself. Do we do it not because it is easy, not because it is hard, but because it’s effortless.

And damn, if effortlessness isn’t the hardest thing in this life to pull off.