cyndiesstuff wrote: »

Changing direction in your life is hard and I will use the following analogy to explain why. Imagine if you will.... a giant sand hill.

At the top of the hill, there is a giant metal ball. You push that ball down the left side of the hill and it creates a small groove in the sand. Next time when you are at the top of the hill with the same ball, you push it to the left and it is easier to push and follows the same path. Over time you hardly have to touch the ball and it goes into the groove that is now a lot deeper and the sand has become really packed down, almost like cement. The groove to the left becomes a well worn path and the ball cruises effortlessly down the hill that way.

Now imagine that your at the top of the hill and you want to start the ball rolling down the right side instead. The first time you roll it, you really have to push hard to get it started - even harder than you did when you first started to roll the ball down the left side. The balls momentum, the worn path to the left, has been cemented in by years of repetition. The ball automatically wants to go that way. But you have decided that you want the ball to go to the right. With much expended energy, you push hard to the right and the ball rolls down the right side, starting a new groove.

The second time you push the ball to the right, it becomes a little easier. Over time, the groove on the left side starts to refill with sand and the groove on the right starts to get cemented in. After the 4th or 5th time of pushing the ball down the right side, you get tired. After all, you have had to work twice as hard to make this new groove on the right. You are not only creating a new groove on the right but also changing the balls tendency to want to automatically go to the left - like it had done for years. You have worked WAY harder creating this new groove than you had worked when you started this ball rolling journey in the first place. You assume that because you have been rolling it down the right side for some time now that it will just automatically roll toward the right. You just let the ball go. Because the groove on the left was very deep, very compacted and had been created over years, the ball automatically takes the path of least resistance and also very quickly creates original groove on the left without any problem.

In order to make true change you need grit. Grit is consistency, tenacity, and perserverance. You must have grit to change the direction of the ball. It is the only way to truly change course. Eventually, the groove on the left with disappear and the easy path will now be on the right. Just keep pushing that ball down the right side of the hill.