I was out for a run this evening and I encountered a bit of a muddy track. Right down the middle of the track there looked like what was a bit of a stream. It seemed easier to stick to the edge. In fact it was really slippy on the edge and I struggled to maintain my footing. I took the plunge and stepped into the ‘stream’. It was actually just a trickle, easier to run in and I didn’t get my feet we like I thought I would.

That made me think.

I remember having a chat a while ago with my young lad. He seemed predisposed to take the easy route at every opportunity. I was trying to inspire him with talk of all things he might be missing if he didn’t give things a go. An analogy hit me: if you always stick to the valleys not only do you not get to see the fantastic views but you also don’t build the muscles and resilience to deal with the other problems that life throws at you. In fact, quite often, just like my slipping and sliding trying to stick to the ‘dry’ bit of the path, it is often harder taking the ‘easy’ route.

This could be quite damaging to your mental state. If you perennially take the easy route and it still turns out to be a bit hard then you’re going to start thinking that much of life is simply too hard for you. And then you give up.

Unfortunately our inner chimp likes to take the easy route. Inevitably, as with most things the chimp does, it’s actually less helpful in the long run: the person who has ‘a couple of drinks to calm his nerves’ starts to depend on that drink; the workaholic that finds it easier to ‘control’ his work stays in the office longer rather than spend time ‘keeping up’ with and understanding family life and nurturing that family; the techie who loves the latest smartphone to ‘keep in touch’ with all his friends ends up not actually being able to have meaningful communication; the person who relies on others to feed their own self-esteem ends up even more ‘needy’.

Tony Hawkes, the comedian (not the skateboarder), had to have a word with himself when he went to Moldova to track down the Moldovan national football team and play them all at tennis. Halfway around his journey, chronicled in his book Playing Tennis with the Moldovans, his camera tripod broke. He was about to throw it away and buy a new one until his hosts asked why he wasn’t simply going to repair it. Our inner chimps have allowed us to believe that having the fully functioning item is what is important and that if it breaks we just throw it away and buy a new one. Apart from missing the opportunity to learn, or relearn, a new skill we are also now giving control away. It is one of the human givens emotional needs that we have. People who can find an element of control in their lives, even in the direst of circumstances, are happier than those who don’t. Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning, was able to survive the holocaust because he took what control he could of his circumstances.

And we let our inner chimps relinquish that control. Rather than choosing to take the more difficult route, gaining insight, building resilience and gaining in confidence we let ourselves try and take the short cut. In the long run (no pun intended) it’s not that good for us.