Yeah, I think you're right, and I especially like your description of anger as "reality being inferior to our expectations." That quote you linked is particularly on point. On the one hand, I'm not truly looking for a short-cut. I'm willing to do the work. I'm just trying to figure out a way to make the work not abjectly miserable. But I think the idea of "fighting your way through" is absolutely true, and it may simply be the case that it's going to suck for awhile. You know, I joke with some of the guys I do kung fu with about how we're not trying to "get better" or "get good," we're trying to suck less. That may just be the right way to think about it.
Could be. We call them martial arts for a reason, and maybe there's more commonality there than I had thought.