Effort

I know someone who truly believes their life and the way they look is because they have worked harder and led a harder life than those of us they believe have had an easier one.

Part of that is probably true, but sometimes living a harder life, or working harder is due to the choices we make. Although hard times and bad luck can happen to anyone, it is more likely to happen when people are careless or thoughtless. 

Also, everyone has hard times. Who can judge which ones are harder? Each of us has to deal with life when it happens to us. How we feel about that, how we respond to it, and the changes we make after assessing these difficulties really does make a difference.

We all know people who seem to have more problems than the rest of us. Is it possible these people make different choices than others would under the same circumstances? 

The way is seldom smooth, but the bumps in the road are a lot more noticeable if you refuse to put shock absorbers on your wheels and, let's face it, some people don't even use wheels. They just bounce along, ricocheting off the walls and blaming everything around them for the jostling they take.

Living smarter, trying to learn from mistakes, making changes along the way is worth the effort.