Degree of Difficulty Leah’s first dive was a forward dive in the pike position; degree of difficulty 1.3.  Chris’ fourth dive was a back one somersault, three twists in the free position; degree of difficulty 2.9.  At the Southwest Illinois Swimming Association Dive Championship in Godfrey, IL this past weekend I watched as 75 divers took to the board, each vying to win a medal and each tackling dives of varied degrees of difficulty.  I saw graceful dives, twists and turns, somersaults, back dives, inwards, belly flops, and even a missed dive. While at the meet I got to thinking about the way we look at the twists and turns in our lives in terms of degree of difficulty.  Life is certainly challenging at times and I find that we are often responsible for making it even more difficult than it needs to be.  Sadly, many of us have this trait mastered.  So, in what ways do we make our life more difficult? • We lie to ourselves and remain in denial about our life circumstances.  We don’t step up to the plate and acknowledge what is not working. • We feel like we have to be right and will fight to the end to prove it. • We tolerate difficult people, relatives, suppliers, patients, and team members in our lives and give them the power to make us feel miserable. • We have unfinished business, tasks, and messes in our lives and until those are completed our lives will be forever difficult.  These uncompleted affairs drain the energy from us as we move from one thing to another and leave a trail of incompletes behind us. • We have entirely too much “stuff” to look after and keep track of.  How much do we really need? • We spend too much money and borrow too much which then leads us to spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about our debt and working to pay it off. • We don’t take enough time to nourish ourselves.  Down time does wonders for the spirit and enables us to regroup and replenish. • Our excessive habits can lead us down a path of heartache.  Smoking, drinking, drugs, overeating, lying, and cheating never guide us to triumph. • Many of us still have that drive that “it has to be perfect or it’s not worth doing”.  This belief takes an enormous amount of energy and focus from us and turns simple tasks into formidable ones. • Many of us are trying to keep up with the Jones’ and that can be very tough. • We tolerate or ignore a difficult situation rather than confront it, thus leading to more discontent and frustration with ourselves and our life. • Some of us have the limiting belief that “it has to be hard to be good” so we drive ourselves to constantly achieve.  We were taught that nothing can ever come easy so it must be true. • We continue to search in vain for that one “something” that will bring us happiness. Think about it, what degree of difficulty are you making your life? You do have the power within you to make your life a degree of difficulty of 1.3 instead of a 2.9.   Time for some changes?

“Our difficulties of the moment must always be dealt with somehow, but our permanent difficulties are difficulties of every moment.”   T.S. Eliot “The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance.  Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.”   Jim Rohn “There are two ways of meeting difficulties:  You alter the difficulties or you alter yourself to meet them.”   Phyllis Bottome “Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.”   Marcus Aurelius

I have been watching divers for many years.  You see, my daughter Valerie has been diving since age 12 and for the last 3 years she has been the coach of the local diving team (the win over the weekend brought her record to 2-1).  She even wrote her college admission essay on “Diving Through Life”.  I have had so many degrees of difficulty in my own dive through life, and many of them I did bring on myself.  I’ve tolerated people and situations and done nothing, tried to make everything perfect and everyone around me happy, spent too much money, had too many incompletes, worked way too hard and too much, and have had an overabundance of stuff.  I am much more aware these days of where I stand on the difficulty scale and I try not to hesitate for too long before I step in and regroup.  This is most certainly a work in progress. You know, diving has many parallels to life above and beyond the degree of difficulty.  Have you ever noticed the grace and also the power of divers?  Now that’s a combination to draw upon as I dive through my life: grace and power.  I want the smoothness of movement, the elegance and the beauty of a dive to follow me on my journey.  Sure, there will be times when I belly flop, attempt a somersault that goes awry, or have a missed dive, but just like divers, I can pick myself up and dive again. The inner power I have within me will give me the courage, desire, and passion to continue on and my outer power will give me the strength and energy I need to meet every challenge and difficulty head on.  There is no denying that life can be difficult at times and that we iatrogenically make it more so.  Use your grace and your power to make it less so.