If you can’t say the phrase It’s about the journey, not the destination without reflexively doing the jack-off motion, allow me to offer an alternative. This comes our way from barbecue pitmaster Alex George, who is opening a new restaurant in Indy.

“It’s not about being a master,” George says. “It’s the struggle of trying to get there.”

Indy Star

Struggle usually carries a lot of negative baggage, but I like the way he reframes it. As I’ve written in the past, struggle doesn’t have to mean misery. If you struggle, it doesn’t mean that you suck.

Scaling a mountain is a struggle. Raising children is a struggle. Getting through grad school is a struggle. 

Every meaningful thing you’ve ever done in your life has been a struggle. 

As with those other struggles, creating something can be a difficult pleasure.

And I hope you find pleasure in it, because here’s the thing: there is no arrival. No actual destination, no moment of “being a master.” We’re chasing the horizon, my friend. The struggle is all there is, so you better learn to enjoy it.