A Letter From Chris Suarez
A SILVER LINING
Friday afternoon I was headed out to the farm after a day of zooms. It was the first day this week that I was on my way home before the sun went down. As I drove further west, the city scene turned to suburbia, which eventually turned to open fields. The sun was low on the horizon and as I looked out my driver window it had positioned itself just perfectly behind a grey cloud. The entire cloud was outlined in a silvery light. I’d post a picture here, except I’m certain that somehow AI would report back to the Oregon State Police, and I’d get a ticket in the mail for autonomous driving without my hands on the wheel.
I couldn’t help but immediately think, this is what a “cloud with a silver lining” really is. We often get told to look for the silver lining, and yet, I couldn’t quite remember the last time I saw such a perfectly silver-lined cloud.
And yet, that cloud was definitely grey. In fact, that storm cloud had just dumped about two inches of water on the field that I was passing by, evidenced by all the pooling water covering what used to be a neatly lined blueberry farm. It's been raining here all week, so that sun, even though still covered by the cloud in front of it, was a welcomed sight. I wanted so badly for the sun to just break through the cloud.
There was a valuable lesson there for me. I knew the sun was there. But the cloud stood in the way. I realized then the real definition and meaning of looking for the silver lining. Some will use the expression to have us focus on looking for the positive. However I saw it as a lesson in hard work, with a win just beyond that.
Often we are so focused on the rain cloud in front of us, that we miss the fact that the sun is just on the other side. We have to get through that cloud to really see the sun or appreciate the full benefits of it. The sun is always there, we know that. It’s just on the other side of that cloud, or any cloud for that matter.
It’s a reminder that doing hard things will always lead us down a path to an easier future. But we have to get through the hard things. We have to do the hard things. We have to do the work.
If we fall back on doing just the easy things, it will always lead us down a path to a harder future.
Do the hard things now, while you still can. Do the hard work now. A side lesson provided to us over the past year is that we just don’t know when we may or may not be able to do the hard work any longer. I don’t know how many days I’ll have the opportunity to work hard on behalf of my children’s future. But while I’m given them, I’ll take them and make the most of them.
The best habits you have are always the hardest ones to build: eating healthy, working out, rising early, calling people that you don’t know and that don’t want you to call them.
The worst habits you have are always the easiest ones to build: eating poorly, over-drinking, sleeping in, sending emails to people that we know like us.
But think about the end of those paths. Eating healthy, exercising, and doing the work will lead to a much easier life later. We will reap benefits in the long run. The sun is just through those clouds. Conversely, eating poorly, over-drinking, being lazy, and doing what’s easy will lead to a much harder life later. We’ll be soaking in the sun today, headed for a thunderstorm of a future.
So, what CAN you do today? Then do it. Do what you can now. Those that put off what can be done today until tomorrow end up more vulnerable. We don’t know what will show up this March or this July or this September.
We can’t see the future, we can just prepare for it in the present. If you are able to do hard work now, do so. Those that have a great January or February will be much better equipped to handle what they are dealt in March and April.
Hard now. Easy later.
Easy now. Hard later.
Our lives are filled with silver linings. Hard work is backlit by our preferred future.
Chris