Handle Hard Better.
I saw this post on instagram today and it inspired me. Let’s be honest: life is a pro-level ninja at throwing curveballs. Sometimes they’re small, like stubbing your toe on the same piece of furniture you swore you’d move last week. Other times, they’re less “oops” and more “how did my whole life end up upside-down in a blender?”
The instinct when life gets hard is to go full Home Depot: “How do I fix this?” We’re all walking around like we’ve got a tool belt on; screwdriver for emotional wounds, duct tape for relationships, hammer for...well, everything sometimes if we’re honest. But what if we’re asking the wrong question?
What if the real challenge isn’t fixing the hard, but handling the hard better?
Yeah, I know. That sounds like something a yoga instructor says right before handing you a green juice and asking you to breathe through your nose. But stick with me.
Life’s Not a Smooth Jazz Playlist
Look, life isn’t always going to be lo-fi beats and low stress. Sometimes it's more like a toddler with a drum set and no bedtime. But here’s the kicker: hard isn’t going away. I’ve been doing this thing 51 years, as of today. And I’ve not yet hit some magical point where my schedule is clear, my body feels amazing, everyone likes me, and my dog doesn’t poop in someone’s yard. I don’t think you’ll find that either.
Hard is baked into life like raisins in oatmeal cookies. (Why are they always raisins? No one asked for that.)
So if hard is a constant, then trying to eliminate it is like trying to stay dry during a water balloon fight. But handling it? Now we’re talking.
The Art of Handling Hard (Without Screaming Into a Pillow Every Day)
Handling hard better isn’t about suddenly becoming calm and wise like a movie monk who talks in riddles. It’s about learning to stay a little more centered even when your teenager is communicating solely through grunts and your boss just emailed you “quick question” at 4:59 PM on a Friday.
It’s:
Taking a deep breath before responding to that text that made your blood pressure spike.
Choosing to sleep instead of doom-scrolling until 2 AM.
Laughing when you want to scream, or at least doing it with snacks nearby.
Handling hard better doesn’t mean pretending it’s easy. It just means not letting it own you.
Things I’ve Tried That Don’t Work (and One That Does)
I’ve tried fixing hard by ignoring it. Spoiler: it grew.
I’ve tried fixing hard by overplanning. My color-coded calendar judged me silently as I skipped every self-improvement block I scheduled.
I’ve tried fixing hard by eating my way through Costco-sized packs of trail mix. All I gained was weight and an inexplicable craving for cashews at 3 AM.
What does help?
Deciding to handle hard better.
I don’t mean in a gladiator, “BRING IT ON, LIFE” kind of way. I mean in a humble, “Okay, this is a mess, but I’m still standing and I’m gonna figure out how to grow here” kind of way.
Centering Isn’t Just for Yoga Class
We don’t talk enough about being centered. Most of us are so reactive, we spend our day like a pinball bouncing between problems. But what if, instead of reacting to every bump, we responded with something closer to wisdom? Or at least something slightly better than panic?
Centering looks like setting boundaries. Like not checking email at dinner. Like telling your wife you’re stressed instead of bottling it up until you snap over a missing sock.
Centering looks like grace — for yourself, for others, for the fact that some days the best you can do is show up and not break anything.
So yeah, life is hard. But maybe the point isn’t to make it easy.
Maybe the point is to stop trying to duct tape it all into perfection, and instead focus on showing up, laughing when you can, breathing when you can’t, and learning to handle hard a little bit better than you did yesterday.
And hey — if you do throw something, aim for the couch.
