#235

There’s that familiar moment when you’re pushing hard – attempting to influence a decision in your favour, trying to force momentum in the conversation, convincing yourself that if you just apply a little more effort, the result you want will follow.

You grip tighter.

You lean in.

You push.

And yet… everything feels heavy.

And often it doesn’t go our way.

Here’s the pattern we often miss:

sometimes the struggle isn’t because you’re doing it wrong.

It’s because you’re riding the metaphorical horse in the opposite direction it wants to go.

Energy tells the truth before logic does.

Your body knows before your brain catches up.

What feels like resistance is often information, not failure.

The whisper is simple, but not always easy:

ride the horse in the direction it’s going.

That doesn’t mean giving up.

It doesn’t mean settling.

It means paying attention.

Where things feel oddly smooth.

Where conversations flow without force.

Where curiosity shows up instead of dread.

Where effort creates energy rather than drains it.

Sometimes we persist out of identity, expectation, or sunk cost.

We tell ourselves, “I should want this”.

“I’ve invested too much to change course.”

“Stopping would mean I failed.”

But riding a tired horse uphill doesn’t make you noble.

It just makes you exhausted.

What if wisdom isn’t pushing harder but listening better?

Deeply listening better to what is going on within us.

A few gentle questions to sit with:

> Where am I applying effort that isn’t being met by momentum?

> What feels like it’s already moving, if I stopped resisting it?

> If I trusted the direction life is nudging me, what would I loosen my grip on?

You don’t need to abandon the ride.

You might just need to adjust your seat.

Sometimes the bravest move isn’t persistence.

It’s surrender.