Road to Nowhere

The road of least resistance may be easy, but it is not always effective. Forget all the promised character building benefits of taking the more difficult route. We miss the point if the intent becomes to make our decision-making criteria finding the most impassable path of all just to prove that we value inner strengthening.
The focus needs to be on outcomes. Which course of action will result in the desired or necessary outcomes? If the desired outcome is safety, then dangerous or harmful behaviors need to be confronted, no matter how unpleasant or difficult. A failure to do so would suggest that one may desire a different outcome, like harmony, for example in this instance.
The focus on achieving outcomes shifts attention to the effectiveness of one's efforts, instead of, however inadvertently, on trying to make one's life easier. Avoiding an unpleasant experience is actually harder to do (and never quite finished) than accomplishing a specific outcome, however difficult. A hard road anywhere is better than an easy road nowhere.