The Joy of Elbow Grease

Putting our heart into it isn’t enough.
That’s merely the price of admission.
To keep the momentum going, to keep the resistance away and to keep the goal in sight, we have to put our back into it. Real, physical exertion. Sweat equity. Elbow grease. Getting up earlier than we need, staying up later than we want, and aching every moment in between.
That’s what life requires of us.
Without it, we’re just watching from the sidelines.
It’s the ugliest part of any endeavor, but it’s also the most transformational. Something about the movement of our bodies, the calories we expend and the physical price we pay changes us. Like a yogi stretching her body in unexplored directions, our exertions create new muscle memory. We come out on the other side better than we were before. And if we’re lucky enough to share this experience with someone we love, the intimacy between us deepens, and our relationship is never the same again.