Making Hard Obsolete Is What Is Quietly Killing Our People.
If you're looking for a more fulfilled life, lean into hard more often.
“Not only does (consistent) exposure to self-induced struggle increase strength, capacity, & resilience, it’s far more gratifying than withering away like a degenerate on the couch, hiding from hard.
You want to feel?
Lean into hard.
And lean into it often.
It’s the best.”
-Ray Zingler on X
While I am not a mental health professional, understanding human psychology is critically important for me to excel in my field of Human Performance.
While modern technology is undoubtedly awesome and has provided a level of convenience the world has never known, it can be quite dangerous and we’re seeing that today more than we’ve ever seen it before.
Think about it.
We live in a world where you can wake up, doom scroll social media, put processed food into a microwave, sit on your ass, pretend to “work” all day in the air conditioning, skip lunch, and then door dash more chemicals to your house camouflaged as food, have a nightcap drink, binge Netflix (along with more doom scrolling), go to sleep (sleep like shit), and then wake up the next day and repeat the behaviors that are quietly killing you.
“Come on Ray, that’s unrealistic!”
Have you looked outside?
No seriously, have you looked outside?
Have you been to your local supermarket and seen what our people look like?
Do you understand the sheer scale of the “medical weight loss” industry?
Do you know how many billions of dollars we pay for brain altering pills in an effort to manufacture “happy”?
Our people are fucked up because we’ve made hard obsolete.
It’s cool that “there’s an app for that”.
But what’s not cool is allowing that convenience to dictate your behavior.
It’s damn sad that the answer to all our problems is literally right there in front our eyes, but we ignore it.
You want the solution?
Wake up early, go outside in the sunshine, move your body, eat real food, and be grateful for a life you don’t deserve.
I’m sitting here talking about “hard”, yet the solution is so painfully easy it’s comedic.
But if you want even more value, more satisfaction, and more contentment, the key is to regularly expose yourself to struggle.
It’s because on the other side of struggle is fruit.
More struggle, more fruit.
And on top of the (scientifically proven) benefits of overcoming, you create a discipline and resilience that better prepares you for life’s inevitabilities.
If you want more out of this life, the answer, again, is simple:
Do more hard.