There is a song clip I keep hearing a lot in Instagram reels and TikTok videos. It has some catchy music that plays and then the lyrics say, “let’s skip to the good part” and the melody keeps going. It’s a fun audio and for a while I thought it was clever and cute. I liked how at the crescendo of the music, it stops when the lyrics say, “let’s skip to the good part,” which would then always wrap up with an image of something epic. Whether it was a hike with an amazing picturesque view at the end or a mother’s baby bump then showing the actual adorable smiling baby. I enjoyed watching them but for some reason it didn’t sit well with me.
After thinking about it for a little while, I realized that my issue isn’t with the catchy tune and “good part” images. My issue is that this simple audio allows you to skip over the process it took to get to that epic moment. In life, we don’t just get to “skip to the good part” and why would we? We would miss all the milestones and experiences that shaped us along the way. For example when I am hiking, I often have to remind myself mid-hill climb when I am out-of-breath and wheezing that I am not just doing this for the view. I am also doing this to prove to myself that I am capable, fit, and willing to work hard. I remind myself I can do challenging things and I will be better for it. There will be a reward at the top and regardless of the view, the reward is the accomplishment of just simply getting there!
I feel very similar about life. There are so many hard experiences that end up with a good result in the end. Everything in life is about perspective but skipping to the good part isn’t what I want to see. I want to see the journey. Even on social media, I tend to follow the accounts of people who are real and show all aspects of the process, good, bad, and in-between. I want to see the late nights studying for that doctorate degree, I want to see the sweaty gym selfie before the health magazine photoshoot, and I want to see a messy house before seeing the clean and perfect one.
We can’t skip to the good part without acknowledging what all it took to get us there. That is a disservice to ourselves and the process. It’s a reminder that the process isn’t glamorous or fun all the time. The process is usually kind of boring… it may suck and we may wish we were doing anything else, but guess what the payoff is? The payoff is THE GOOD PART… the degree, the physical health, the clean house… they all had a ‘not-sexy’ process to get there, but man, did the process make it worth it in the end!
So let’s not skip to the good part, let’s see the process, celebrate the monotony along the way, and then appreciate the end result even more for it.
The Salty Exchange 