The Gift of Difficulty
Summary: Life’s most meaningful pursuits are rarely easy—they demand persistence, vulnerability, and a willingness to face discomfort.
“I don’t enjoy writing. It’s hard and anxiety-filled most of the time.”
— David Brooks, Writer (27-03-2025)
Summary
This reflection challenges the assumption that meaning must come from pleasure. Many of life’s most fulfilling pursuits—creative work, relationships, vocations—are difficult, often anxiety-ridden, and yet deeply worth doing. We persist not because it’s enjoyable, but because something within insists we must.
Explanation
David Brooks’ admission that writing is “hard and anxiety-filled” is not a complaint, but a window into the deeper truth about meaningful work. Though it is now his profession, he makes it clear that his commitment to writing began before money was involved and would continue even if it stopped being financially rewarding. The extrinsic rewards may help, but they’re not what drive him.
This distinction—between doing something for pay and doing it because it feels essential—is central to Brooks’s argument. Across professions and passions, people choose to endure taxing, often unpleasant routines because they are anchored to something greater: a sense of calling, a personal standard, or an internal flame that refuses to die out.
In a world that often equates happiness with ease, Brooks flips the logic. He argues that the best kind of life may not be the most comfortable, but the most committed. Through stories of writers, runners, scientists, surfers and seekers, he illustrates how effort and endurance don’t just accompany meaning—they create it.
Whether it’s the violinist practising through boredom, the parent navigating emotional chaos, or the paddler pressing forward through open water—stroke by stroke—each is a portrait of persistence. It is often the struggle that gives rise to transformation. Meaning, he suggests, is not something you find—it is something you build, step by difficult step, in the very act of doing hard things that matter.
About the David Brooks
David Brooks is a longtime columnist and cultural commentator known for his nuanced exploration of human character, purpose and societal values. His best-selling books The Road to Character and The Second Mountain explore similar themes of inner life, moral depth, and the pursuit of meaningful work. In this piece, he distils years of experience and philosophical inquiry into a compelling meditation on the quiet power of endurance.
After Afterthought: A Song for the Shadows
“Here I am, give me something I could follow / So I can find my way out from the shadows”
— The Temper Trap, Fall Together (2016)
This lyric hums with the same quiet urgency that runs through David Brooks’s reflection. It’s the voice of someone who wants to move forward, who’s waiting not for ease, but for a sense of direction. Like Brooks trudging to his desk each morning, or Murakami lacing up his shoes for another punishing run, it’s not about fleeing the shadows—it’s about finding a way through them.
“Fall Together” doesn’t promise relief; it promises connection through persistence. It’s a plea for something meaningful to hold onto when the path is hard and the purpose isn’t always clear. And that’s the core of Brooks’s message: that meaning rarely arrives gift-wrapped in pleasure—it’s carved out by effort, intention, and a quiet fire that refuses to go out.
About The Temper Trap
The Temper Trap is an Australian indie rock band formed in Melbourne in 2005, known for their emotionally rich soundscapes and soaring vocals. Their global hit “Sweet Disposition” introduced them to an international audience, but it’s tracks like “Fall Together” that showcase their depth—blending vulnerability, power, and the aching desire to connect and endure. Their music, like Brooks’s writing, often explores the space between uncertainty and commitment, struggle and meaning.