Satisfaction

Harvard Professor and prolific author Arthur Brooks describes satisfaction as “the joy you get when you struggle for something and you get that.”

In other words, there is no satisfaction without struggle.

And it’s not that a marathon feels good in spite of being difficult, but rather because it is so difficult.

This doesn’t mean we should necessarily expect ourselves or others to face hardship with elation, particularly when it’s the kind life deals us versus something we choose to undertake.

But, to Brooks’ point, there are few victories sweeter than the kind that come from choosing to face something difficult head on, stumbling through it as we understandably do at times, contemplating quitting but never actually quitting, learning about ourselves in the process, ultimately getting through to the other side in spite of all the setbacks and frustrations and doubts — looking back after all that and being able to say:

“I did that.”

Of course we seldom know all that we are capable of, or whether we’ll make it through a particular challenge.

But I imagine the most satisfied among us are those that dare to find out.