Do Hard Things

I am currently reading a book called "Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations" by Alex and Brett Harris. It is a very inspiring read and has stirred up the following thoughts...

The book has made me think about doing hard things. What hard things am I doing in my life? What hard things do my kids see me doing? Doing hard things builds character. I also think that when you hang around with or are parented by people who do hard things, it is contagious.

When I was 15 my mom had breast cancer. She went through chemotherapy, radiation, lost all of her hair, moved to Vancouver to be treated at the cancer clinic for 6 weeks (away from her kids)... cancer took over her life for awhile.

During this time I did not hear my mom complain once. Not once. Instead, I heard how grateful she was. She told me how amazing her friends were in cooking her meals and cleaning her home, how amazing her hair dresser was for giving her free haircuts and then styling her wig for her.

I remember one night when she was very sick from chemotherapy she was walking to the bathroom and did not make it. She got sick on the hallway floor. The only reason I know about this is because I heard her - not because she complained about it.

When my mom visited in March, we drove by the cancer clinic on the way to the aquarium. She looked at the street and the area and told me how beautiful it was to go for walks in that neighborhood. She displayed "an attitude of gratitude" (as the girls and I call it :)

Years ago, I went to Honolulu with my dad and watched him finish the Honolulu marathon. As I watched him cross the finish line, I felt so proud of him. Proud of the training he put in to get to this point, and of what he accomplished by all his training. It inspired me to the point that I began to run marathons. My dad had a goal of running the Boston marathon. So I wanted to run the Boston marathon as well. And guess what? We both achieved our goals. I saw my dad do something very hard and I wanted to do the same.

Spencer loves to memorize scripture. By the suggestion and encouragement of a friend, Spencer recently memorized John 17. So the other day, I was doing dictation with Ella. Since this is our final stretch of homeschool for the year - I gave her the option to choose what she would write about. She chose John 17. When I opened my Bible to read the first few verses for her, she told me that I didn't need to read it out loud to her. She had memorized the first 4 verses and could also write them beautifully. "I'm going to memorize John 17 with Dadda" she said.

There's a theme here: we observe others doing hard things and it encourages and inspires us to do the same.

For those of you who are very uninterested in my thoughts on doing hard things, pictures of our kids will be posted soon :)