A LETTER FROM CHRIS SUAREZ

THAT WAS HARD

Well that was hard. It was a year of hard. Perhaps the hardest year I can remember. It wasn’t until this week when I took some time to reflect and put the year into some perspective that I really remembered all that 2023 brought with it.

Business was hard. The economy was hard. The media was hard. Having two teenage girls was hard. Being a good husband was hard. Losing some really special relationships was hard. Strengthening established relationships and building new ones was hard. Some health stuff I dealt with was hard. Learning new skills was hard. Being a good friend and a good partner was hard. Failing at things was hard. Learning new things was hard. 

I could go on, but I’ll stop there. On the last day of the current year, one thing is clear. This year was thus far the hardest out of the forty-four I have experienced. When things are hard for an extended period of time, it’s so easy to begin questioning why we are right here. What choices did we make to lead us to hard? Is the hard worth it? Is there an easier way? Those around us may begin to ask us why we do what we do. Others may suggest we need to take it easy.

As an aside, we all do what we do for different reasons. There are no two identical paths or two identical reasons or “why’s” that we choose the paths we are on. With that said, we can’t judge an individual for choosing hard, or giving something up for something else, or making decisions that could otherwise seem peculiar.  We are not them.

As I reflected on the situations that showed up to make 2023 the most difficult, I also came across situations that I chose to put myself in. I chose to run 3 marathons this year.  I finished the year having run just over 1200 miles. That was hard. I chose to enter into new partnerships. I chose to continue to build my Xperiential MBA program and commit to another year of pushing myself and others through that. I chose to read 56 books this year, not to retain everything I read, but to challenge my curiosity and learning ability. I chose to do crossfit three days a week every single week of the year. I chose to show up every single week of this year to keep my promises. I chose to build a company with people, and people are hard. I chose to impact an industry in a unique way regardless of how long that may take.

I’m not sharing that to promote the hustle or the grind or the work-harder culture. I'm sharing that because when I look back at the hard, I realized for the most part, it is a path we all choose. The year was hard because we didn’t give in. The year was hard because we kept moving towards our goals - even when they were out of reach. The year was hard because doing anything of value or of importance always is. The year was hard because years ago when we decided what mattered to us, and we decided who we wanted to be when we grew up, neither of those two things were easy. So if along the way, our expectations were skewed to believe this year should be easier than the last, then be grateful for 2023 for resetting our expectations. If we are building and growing and becoming and learning, the current year will always feel and be experienced as the hardest year ever. 

This year was a great reminder that I signed up for hard. This reflection has me ready to expect 2024 to be harder than this year. I welcome that. I want it that way. I expect that. Because as I think about it, every year is harder than the one before it. 

Chris Suarez