If it was that easy, everyone would do it.

Yes, it's a cliche, something you've heard over and over until you're sick of hearing it, even though you know it's the truth. That's the definition of a cliche: we know it's true but don't want to hear it anymore. Yadayadayada, right?

So let's look at this one: "If it was that easy, everyone would do it."

What is the "it"? Is it something everyone would WANT to do?


Take skiing. It's popular, for sure, but lots of us don't want to do it because (1) it's too damned cold and (2) it's expensive, what with all the ski rentals and trendy winter clothes you have to buy, and (3) sorry to repeat myself, but it's too damned cold! Sliding down snow at high speeds is just unpleasant for some of us. But to others, it's an adrenaline rush well worth the expense and the hassle.

If it was easy, we'd all do it, right? Maybe, maybe not.

What about ballroom dancing? Lots of us klutzes -- mainly guys -- would love to know how to do it, if just to please our wives and other women we know, but as seen on TV, it's almost an athletic event, with lithe younger couples trying to out-maneuver other lithe older couples, doing things most of us would never attempt on a dance floor. Even watching old shows with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, most of us think: I could never dance like that. It's supposed to be inspiring but is actually kind of intimidating. It's a wonder any guy ever tries it, much less gets good at it.

But we can all learn to dance, right? Not that flamboyance but basic steps. Unfortunately, there are brief windows in our lives for learning how to dance. Pre-teen, early teen, later teen, early twenties (maybe) -- and then forget about it. I didn't learn when I was young. I had two older sisters who might have shown me some steps, but they both got married young and moved away. And I wasn't privy to the Country Club, where young men and women are trained to enter proper society. My inability to dance, not knowing how, has really been a minor sorrow, as I've had to pass on more than one romantic possibility because I didn't know how to.

If it was easy, everyone would do it, right?

So what about spelling? Not as romantic as skiing or dancing, but something we're all called on every day to do, whether we like it or not. If you work on an oil drilling rig or drive a truck or play baseball for a living, you may not have to deal with spelling every day. But for those of us who have to turn out reports and memos, spelling is a real bugaboo.


And the American English language is notorious for not following logical rules. Think of the word "laugh". Look at it. The "l" and the "a" lead you forward, but then you hit the "g". That stops you. A "g" is usually hard, as in "gag" or "gorge" or "got". What's it doing in a word after "a" and "u"? And then the "h," which doesn't seem to belong there. A "g" and then an "h"? We're okay with words like "no" and "yes" and even "President" because the letters present themselves in a way conducive with pronunciation, but "irregular" spellings are a problem for most of us. And our language is full of them. (Not sure why. Somebody Google it for me, okay?)

If it was that easy . . .

The same could be said for the more difficult parts of our lives -- getting and holding good jobs, marrying the right person, staying away from dangerous substances, having children, etc. If it was easy, we'd all do it right the first time, wouldn't we? And live happily ever after.

We'd all have those good jobs and be married to just the right person and have children who loved us unconditionally and grew up to have good jobs and marry just the right person. But we know it doesn't always turn out that way. We struggle, we try to adjust, we sometimes go off on the wrong path and then try to recover. So do our kids. So did all the people and their kids who came before us. Life was never all that easy and likely never will be. It's just our lot in this only life we know.

So what to do?

Understand that most things that look hard to do really are. Not just skiing or dancing or spelling but the really important things: living our lives, trying to keep it all together. Lots of our fellow humans can't manage and make huge mistakes that cost them their jobs and their marriages and sometimes even their freedom. If it was that easy -- but it's not. The life we're given is challenge enough for most of us, too much for some.

Size yourself up and determine what you can do and can't, what you want to take on or not, and then get one of those blood-pressure monitors you can strap on yourself at home to see if you're pushing yourself too much. Be the best you can be, but don't kill yourself trying to be someone else. Lots of people do.

If life was that easy, everyone would live to be old and contented. It's not. And they don't.