I’m closer to 50 than I am to 40 now, & I can tell you this with confidence: Nothing… absolutely Nothing that came easily in my life turned out to be truly substantial in the end. Easy wins have a way of fading. Their value diminishes with time because little time & energy was invested to earn them. But the things I buckled down for, struggled through, toiled over, & poured my time, energy & focus into… those are the things that became beautiful. Those are the things that became meaningful. Those are the things that have endured. The greatest rewards in life are rarely found on the shortest path. Short- sightedness is dust in the wind. Patience, effort, & perseverance are what compound into something fkn monumental.