Friends,
This past April, I began substitute teaching.
For those in need of a quick way to earn extra cash and who aren't allergic to children, I recommend it. It is a very enlightening way to live the principle of impermanence. Every day presents different challenges and opportunities for learning. One of the most invigorating and enlightening avenues for learning is the conversations one overhears as a sub. While on my first day, I overhead one young lady say to her friends "who wants to get ready for college?! It's so much work!"
I, being the nerd I am, chimed in, "it's not that bad."
She said, "I heard it's a lot of work."
"It is a lot of work. But it's not that bad."
When we are young, we think there's some secret way to an easy life. That if we just wait long enough, someone will recognize the inherent good in us and we'll never have to do anything tedious or strenuous. Things will just fall into place.
They don't.
College is not for everyone, but it shouldn't be avoided simply because it's "a lot of work." Everything is work. More specifically, everything that adds any value to your life is work.
There may be joy in that work sometimes. Even when there isn't, that doesn't mean the work isn't necessary.
If anything, to get what we want, we must work twice as hard. We work to sustain ourselves and also to sustain what sustains our souls. We have our day jobs and we have what keeps us, us: Our passions. Our loves. Our hobbies.
Yes, friends, as I'm sure you've experienced, even love is work.
Rest when you need to.
But do not cease.
~Belinda
