Rocks and hard places are fairly negative places to get stuck between. They push and poke and hurt and bruise and if you hit them hard enough, break things. Two competing opportunities, two apparently equal paths to choose, two or three family pressures, a number of financial setbacks, a group of needs yet unmet, more commitments than you can meet, age and desire, wants and resources, needs and wishes - all can become hard places and rocks when they happen in tandem.
My sweet bride and I face this dilemma right now. She greatly prefers to live in Eastern Europe, while I greatly prefer living in Asia. A rock and a hard place. She wants (and has) location-specific work with face to face people involvement. I want (and have) work that I can do remotely and have a long reach across the world and can pinpoint specific projects and leaders and situations. A rock and a hard place. She is very accomplished in hard skills that make her unique in her working field. I have education and experience that makes me unique in my working field. A rock and a hard place.
So currently we are doing both/and and neither. I know, that sounds impossible, but we often accomplish that and more. But I am not sure it is sustainable because the rocks and the hard places are a damn sight tougher than our wills it seems. Having your cake and eating it too not only rarely happens, but its costly.
I am confident that you have faced a rock and a hard place situation(s), and am equally confident that you will face more in the future, just we have and will. A great deal of dialogue and compromise are required to navigate these rocks and hard places so that damage is minimal (or at least contained) and forward progress can be sustained.
