Loving the Work Doesn’t Make It Easy—It Makes It Worth It

by: Peter Lassiter

In Season 2 of Ted Lasso, the ever-optimistic coach drops a complex and simple truth that feels tailor-made for those who work in child welfare, juvenile justice, and family courts:

“I’ve heard folks say that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, I gotta disagree. I love what I do, and I work incredibly hard.”

At first glance, this quote might seem like just another heartfelt soundbite from a look-on-the-bright-side AppleTV show. But it struck really home with me. As I dug a little deeper, and it reveals a truth that too often goes unspoken in the world of service, for me- legal service in domestics: Loving your work doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, the more you love it—especially when it involves vulnerable families and children—the harder it can feel.

There has always been this myth that passion makes things effortless. The notion that meaningful work should feel effortless is not just misleading—I think it encourages complacency, stagnation and for some the loss of direction. It undervalues the emotional fatigue of social workers navigating crises, judges making gut-wrenching custody decisions, attorneys advocating for traumatized children or abused spouses, community advocates trying to keep families intact in the face of systemic obstacles or the process of navigating the legal system. These are roles that require not only passion but stamina, strategy, and resilience.

Passion is not the absence of work—it’s the reason we stay in the fight.

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For those of us in the legal field- our clients deserve more, the citizens who come to seek their wrongs righted at their courthouse deserve it. It's not limited to the Law, every day, thousands of public servants walk into courtrooms, classrooms, counseling offices, and shelters not because the work is easy, but because the people they serve deserve relentless care. Especially children.

Children caught in the justice system, in foster care, or on the edge of homelessness are not statistics—they’re human beings in formation. They are shaped not only by their trauma, but also by how the adults around them choose to respond to that trauma. Passion fuels those responses. But it is persistence—the willingness to work incredibly hard—that changes lives.

We do not protect children with slogans. We protect them with systems that work, policies that prioritize dignity, and professionals who refuse to give up when things get hard. Loving the job is what keeps us going. Doing the work is what gets results.

Public service—especially judicial and legal service involving families—is not about feel-good moments. It's about ensuring fairness for parents struggling with addiction, offering safety to children fleeing abuse, and creating pathways for healing and reunification when possible. It's about understanding the deep systemic challenges our families face—poverty, racism, mental health crises—and still showing up with both compassion and clarity.

I don't want to sound cynical, but passion is not enough. Every day I go to the courthouse, I recognize, like Ted Lasso does, that the real measure of commitment is not how easy something feels, but how deeply you lean into it when it’s hard.

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Whether you're a judge, a caseworker, an advocate, or a parent navigating the system—you’re allowed to be exhausted. You’re allowed to be human. And you’re allowed to love your work and admit it’s incredibly hard. But in that tension, something beautiful happens. Passion and perseverance combine to form purpose. And when we work with purpose—especially for families and kids who need us most—every day matters.

So, let’s love what we do. I do. I love being about to serve this community. But let’s also honor the labor it takes. Because our kids and families don’t just need our hearts—they need our Ted Lasso hustle. Credits: Image created using Canva,

Mark Twain image from Getty Images