Do Hard Things: Beginning

Today we live in a culture that promotes comfort, not challenges. -Chuck Norris

Around two years ago, I turned thirteen. I was -and still am- a big reader, so my mom got me thirteen books. Most of them were fiction with main characters who were also thirteen, and most of them, though I hate to admit it, ended up in the goodwill pile. The ones that we did keep sat on my shelf for months, till one day I picked one up. That book I picked up was Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.

Honestly I can’t remember why this one got saved, it had the two words challenge and hard work written all over it. I didn’t want to do those things, I wanted to sit in my bed all day and read fiction books. One Sunday though, when I had just ended a fiction reading spree, I picked it up and started reading. This book changed my life and my mind forever, even if I hadn’t realized it yet.

I started reading a section every Sunday before bed, but I soon realized, that wasn’t going to work for me. I was taking in so much information from those few pages, that when I would lie down to sleep, I couldn’t. My mind was racing with how I wanted to use and act on what I had just read that I couldn’t fall asleep. So, I decided to instead read it during the day. It didn’t happen. I didn’t pick the book up again for months. Then I was organizing my shelf one day and stumbled across it again. I picked it up again and started over.

Now it’s one of my nightly books. I know, one of the reasons I stopped reading it before was because I couldn’t take in all the information and then sleep. It’s different now though. If I have so many thoughts I can’t sleep I’ll turn my light back on and write them down, and when I come across a good part I put a sticky note on it. It’s been working really well! I’m getting to read it and still be able to go to sleep afterwards.

I was originally going to do one blog post for the whole book when I finished (I’m not done yet 😋) it, but there is juts so much I want to say about all of it that instead I’ve decided to take it part by part. Hopefully that way I won’t overload my readers with my thoughts, and I can go deeper into each individual part. I’m so exited to get started!

As you all probably know by now, I’m not one for long blog posts. I just can’t do it. Lol I’m trying to work on it, but I’m not there yet. (: Before I do end though, I would like to go a little into the book a little. Here are some things I noted before I even started the first chapter.

“Today we live in a culture that promotes comfort, not challenges. Everything is about finding ways to escape hardship, avoid pain, and dodge duty. In the past, young people were expected to make significant contributions to society. Today, our culture expects very little from teens- not much more than staying in school and doing a few chores.” -Forward by Chuck Norris

This is so true! If you look in to history you can see that people were making big accomplishments at young ages. No one is expecting me to run a farm at 14 or be married and taking care of a house. I’m expected to do my school, chores, and use my time productively. Nothing big. I’m not saying those things are easy though, small things can be hard also. They start talking about that more in chapter eight.

Then in the introduction by Alex and Brett themselves, they quote a Bible verse.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity” -1 Timothy 4:12 (NIV)

-Mae Blackwood