Once, I had an employer write in an appraisal feedback, “I really appreciate it that you don’t complain when given a new task.” This came to mind when I read Doug “Blue Skunk” Johnson’s blog entry, “Don’t Complain Until You’ve Cleared a Trail.” 

Did you know? Somehow, the only bit of Panamanian culture I passed on to my children is a machete. I bought a few when I went to Panama in 2007, and each of my children has appropriated one and threatened to grab more. Of course, I only paid $8 per machete but they represent steel from the homeland. Or something. They lie in wait, sharpened in their sheaths, for that pending zombie apocalypse. Sigh.

In it, Doug writes about his experience doing all sorts of stuff I wouldn’t see as fun, but is undoubtedly helpful to others:

I probably did not contribute as much as I could or should have. I used my car as a shuttle. I lopped. I moved logs. I painted blazes. I carried a supply bucket. And I learned just how much work maintaining a trail actually is. 

Of the trail’s 165 miles, it took eight of us most of the day to clear just five of them.

So next time I am on the trail, I will be grateful for the bridges that are stable and the paths that are clear. Not grouse about the small annoyances while wondering about the competence of the trail caretakers. Now that I’ve been one of them.*

*Perhaps each of us should spend a day or two being a classroom teacher, a snowplow driver, a fast food worker, a nurse, or in any job which seems to draw criticism…

That whole idea of not complaining until you’ve walked the walk, done the work, earned your stripes…I have to admit that I’m not big on complaining. Now, I just vote with my feet. If I don’t like you, you don’t hear from me anymore. If there’s a job to do, sure, I’ll try it your way. If it doesn’t work, I’ll do it the way it does work. It’s part of learning. 

Every job is hard the first time you do it. Anything you want to learn makes you uncomfortable. That’s the fun about “getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.” You, as zombie books like to quote Marines, “Embrace the suck.”

“To consciously accept or appreciate something is extremely unpleasant but unavoidable for forward progression.”

Of course, that “suck” is different for every job. I wouldn’t want to be Marine (thank you so much for doing your job) anymore than I would want to maintain a trail. But, I bet there’s stuff I do you wouldn’t want to.

Enjoy it, whatever it is.