When I look back at pictures from some of my favorite moments and memories over the years, the vast majority of them involved some kind of discomfort or a lot of work to create.
These three pictures are no exception.
The first I took on a pack trip, we’d had an afternoon Thunderstorm and the temperature rapidly dropped about 30 degrees. Soggy horses, soggy dogs, soggy outer layers, and enough good forage for the horses was tough to come by. We’d taken the horses to a good grazing spot, hadn’t eaten yet and were trying to stay warm when I paused to watch the sunset
The second was a weekday sunset ride early in the year. At the time that meant getting up stupid early, working horses all day and driving 20min to see the Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustangs, hike to find them, hop on Lacy bareback, scramble up two ridges and over lots of deadfall to get to one of our favorite lookout spots, all in time to still catch some color in the sky.
The third was a recent snow ride. It was about as cold as one might imagine for an overcast Rocky Mountain winter morning. Making hot chocolate and putting more wood on the fire sure sounded good too, especially compared to frozen finger tips and frigid winter winds blowing in my face. But what a view I would have missed, and precious time with Lacy, Tiny and the dogs
I wouldn’t have missed those moments for anything. I probably already missed so many when I didn’t choose to do the hard thing.
This is what I think about when I have a hard time getting motivated or am afraid to do something uncomfortable. That it’s going to be worth it.
Lacy, 9yo Divide Basin Mustang mare, may not be *actually* perfect but she’s a darn good horse. I’ve put a ton of time into her, time that I could have used differently. We have our disagreements, and uncomfortable as that can be, they’re worth it in the end.
Countless times people have offered to “get the gate” for the Mustangs and me. Countless times I’ve said “Thank you, we’ll get it done. It may take us 5 minutes but in the end we’ll be better for it.”
This isn’t intended to sound preachy. If anything, this is something I need to hear every so often (as in, daily). I hope it brings you some inspiration.
If you’ve overcome obstacles – namely your own fear or self doubt – to accomplish something that was important to you, and done hard things in spite of yourself, you’re probably not simply “lucky”, you’re brave.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments 
