Today I had a bunch of things planned. I was going to work on some Data Engineering training. I also wanted to look for jobs and maybe submit a couple of resumes. It's interesting how one decision can change the whole course of a day.
I had just finished lunch and was getting ready to jump into some serious training materials. While I was cleaning up my lunch, I decided to do up the rest of the dishes. No big deal, right? Had those done in a jiffy. As I was walking back upstairs, I happened to look out the hall windows, and I saw it. We've had so much snow the last couple of weeks that the end of the driveway had a good 6 inches of snow and ice.
Well, I decided to take some time while everyone was out shopping and go clean it up. I donned my snow boots, hat, and coat—away I went. I was out there for at least an hour. By chopping, shoveling, chipping, and scraping, I managed to clear the heaviest and most affected areas. That was until I started to feel weird. It was like I was disconnected from my body for a moment. I checked the heart rate monitor on my Apple Watch, and it was 180 bpm. Whoa, no wonder I felt weird.
I stopped what I was doing, put the tools away, and came inside to sit down. After about 20 minutes, my heart rate had returned to normal. I was feeling better. Then, I made my way upstairs. As I did, I realized my hip wasn't happy with me. As I limped up the stairs, it was screaming at me. By the time I got to my bedroom, I could only lie flat on my back.
As I lay there, the exhaustion set in. I was wiped out. I was spent both physically and mentally. There goes the training, the job searching, and the resumes. All I could manage was turning on the TV and binge-watching some Netflix. I did that for the rest of the afternoon, and my hip was still mad at me. I realize I overdid it today, but I managed to get the driveway clear so we won't get stuck in the ruts.
What did I learn from this experience? I learned that there are times when you have to push through the comfort and do the hard thing. I am not suggesting you go out and injure yourself like yours truly. What I am telling you is there will be times when you do something hard, and it won't feel like it's paid off right away. It might even feel like you've given it all you have, and then you feel exhausted. But pressing forward can be the best thing you can do.
I might be exhausted, but having the driveway clear is a huge win. If I can apply the same tenacity and drive to my training and projects, I might actually make real progress. It's funny how it takes an afternoon of being still and unable to move to reach an epiphany like this. Doing the hard thing, in spite of your reservations, is how you get things accomplished in a big way.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you didn't want to do the hard thing but did anyway? How did it make you feel? Have you ever not done the hard thing because you felt you couldn't? Why? I'd love to hear your story.
—Daniel