Prompt: Write about what feels harder than it should.
Okay, the prompt for today, June 22nd, 2026, is: Write about what feels harder than it should.
I don’t know. I think learning the skills that I need has been a lot harder than I would have thought. And I don’t know if it’s harder necessarily, or if it just takes so much longer to get to a skill level I’m happy with than I had anticipated.
School came easy to me, so I got used to things being easy in terms of learning. Then when I got to university, it was hard, and I didn’t do well because it was hard. Until, well, far too late, I’m sure—in third year—I figured out how to study a little bit, how to wrestle with information, and how to actually sit and read.
After university, things became easy again, partly because I took an easy path in terms of my job choices. The work I was doing felt manageable. Then it wasn’t until teachers’ college that I was challenged again because I was uncomfortable with teaching—standing in front of students and kids. I never pictured myself as an elementary school teacher, not once in my life before I stood in front of a Grade 3 class for the first time.
I think all of those formal learning experiences—the manufactured and standardized ones—were relatively easy. It was when I was in environments that weren’t so standardized, where things weren’t deliberately designed, that learning became difficult.
Now, with SANA Stationery & Gifts in particular, woodworking is not easy. Woodworking looks easy on Instagram, but it’s actually quite hard to be that precise and technical. And then there’s running a business.
Running a business, I find very difficult. I find it incredibly difficult because there’s so much to know. It’s not simply a matter of posting a picture of something you want to sell and having people buy it. You really have to sell it. And for me, understanding what makes my product something people would actually want to buy—that’s hard.
It’s not that safe learning environment anymore.
I think that’s been the struggle for me: environments where I’m responsible for defining the structure and the conditions of success.
Parenthood, though? I don’t know. Parenthood feels like it has more structure to it. But we’ll see. We’ll find out when Emi can talk.
Alright. You can find this prompt and more at Letters Lounge, www.letterslounge.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this prompt or any of the others, so please leave a comment or share a link to your own blog or audio journal. I’d love to give it a read or a listen.
Alright, folks. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
This transcript was lightly cleaned up with the help of AI to improve readability while preserving the original voice and intent of the recording.
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