What a Broken Dresser Taught Me About Sacrifice

During college, I had a large dresser in my bedroom that was missing one of its drawers in the middle. It was an eyesore, but it was something that all college students love: free. My parents had gifted it to me, and I used it all the way until I got married before eventually buying a new dresser with my wife. Surprisingly, she didn’t like the look of it.

Being a Dave Ramsey follower, I was determined to graduate from college without any debt. There were lots of things I did, from working different jobs to splitting rent with roommates, but one of them was also this dresser, which is why I termed it the “debt-free dresser” to remind myself that sacrifices like that won’t be forever. Oddly enough, that silly dresser taught me a valuable lesson, which is that anything worth having is going to require sacrifice. Some sacrifices are larger than others, but no matter what, work will be required. We have all experienced this in some way – going to hours of school to follow the career we want, spending time in the gym to get in the shape we want, or even a mother going through labor to have a child. The spectrum is wide because we all want different things out of life.

Where this concept has changed for me recently is that I’ve begun to question if I am sacrificing the right things. It’s not enough to just work hard and hope for some good results. We have to be effective in what we are doing in life, or it doesn’t pan out. It has made me ask: Am I sacrificing the right way?

Maybe you can relate to this (or maybe not), but sometimes I realize that despite hard work and discipline, the results are not guaranteed. What I’m trying to teach myself is that the answer is not necessarily working harder, but shifting the weight of where you are working. We only have so much time, so if we adjust the weight of our effort in our schedule, we might end up with a different result. It’s not always about adding more things to our routine or even taking things away; sometimes it’s about adjusting the life we already have to be in line with what we want. If we aren’t getting what we want out of life, isn’t it worth investigating why?

This week, I might not be providing a clear answer to a problem, but more of a question that I’m working through, too. Sacrifice only makes sense if you are specific about what you are giving up, such as an ugly dresser you use to graduate debt-free. If you don’t know why and how you are doing it, the result of your labor is simply exhaustion. You need to know that the action you are taking is leading to a final destination.

What is something you are working hard at, but not sure why you’re doing it? Is there a way you could shift the effort to produce the outcome you want?