DO HARD THINGSAs indicated by a few of the responses to last week's blog, some teens lack a high degree of confidence in themselves and their peers. That's disturbing. Twin brothers Alex and Brett Harris, 19-year-old homeschool graduates, have co-authored a book, Do Hard Things, subtitled A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations. This is a terrific read for parents and teens alike. I have neither the time nor space to do a book review, but their words give us hope for this defeatest attitude.
One notable thing these young men point out is that we have come to believe in the myth of adolescence. The term teenager wasn't coined until 1941. In earlier times, a person went from childhood to young adulthood. Circumstances demanded that children take on adult responsibilities as soon as they were out of the childish phase. Why is it that society now thinks of adolescents as mentally deficient, hormone-driven, unmotivated, undisciplined goalless stumps afraid to approach life with purpose and intention?
Do Hard Things issues the challenge to teenagers to do hard things, to break out of the mold and start a "rebelution," to rebel against the self-fulfilling prophecy of low expectations. The twins give an example of a young lady, a county campaign coordinator in a statewide political campaign effort in which the Harris brothers were also involved, yet at the state's capitol. She did an incredible job. They had briefly met her and her older sister at the campaign kickoff meeting, so when they heard about the tremendous job she had done, they mistakenly thought she was her 24-year-old sister. They were shocked when they discovered the "woman" doing all that work was only 17. They were also 17 at the time, yet even they had their own preconceived notions about the capabilities of their peers. They also later found out that the girl was deathly afraid of talking on the phone, yet her campaigning position had required her to do just that. That was her hard thing, but she refused to let her own struggles or what others believed about her to define her success.
Each person has his or her own hard thing, or multiple hard things. You first might have to conquer a relatively small hard thing before you go on to conquer a major hard thing. Believe it or not, adults have hard things too. One of my hard things is letting my children do hard things! I guess I am what you would call an enabler. I began working on that hard thing this year by joining the co-op. How can you challenge yourself? What hard thing(s) can you work on?
Mrs. Brooks
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31 comments:
My hard thing has to be motivating myself to do my tedious schoolwork. I have no problem reading about a subject or doing some math problems, but it's when I'm asked to do some monotonous experiment or a seemingly useless workbook activity that I have trouble doing the task. The cause of the problem is disinterest (it's kind of hard to do something if the task lulls you to sleep). So, the solution is to trick myself into thinking the subject is the most spectacularly intriguing thing since the dawn of time, then I will want to do the work instead of have to. I think I'll give it shot... Physics is grand and stimulating!
I wasn't really stating that i have no faith in my peers and how they would "rule", i was more illustrating that a lot of teens today are not responsible. when i said a rebellion would arise from the recumbency from teens today i meant that teens today are so lazy and so naive that they wouldn't know what to do if given the responsibility of such things. i agree that in older days the adolescents were labeled as adults much quicker than those of today. i think today teenagers use the phrase "teenager" as something to hide behind; "oh i'm just a teenager. i can't do anything important or worth while", when in reality they can if they would just stop being so darn lazy, ya know.
So, Daniel, apply that mentality to something really difficult and go conquer the world!
So, Nathan, what would be one of your hard things? What is a challenge for you?
yeah one of my hard things is trying to focus myself on my school work.. because ya know, schoo isn't exactly exited, but you have to do it in order to pass.
It seems then, Matt, that your assignment this week is to focus and then implement the old Nike adage . . . Just do it.
well, i suppose my hardest thing is patience. i don't consider myself a very patient person. i'm always wanting something to happen now and then, rather than waiting for it in the long run. like marriage and sex, for example. i've found myself wanting to just skip ahead to my getting married and having a few kids, while in the mean time i'm here as an "almost adult" learning how to prepare for marriage and how to handle having kids. haha. but my impatient personality is ready to jump ahead to what's good.
Supporting and raising a family is a hard thing, Nathan. Take care of the smaller hard things first so you will be prepared.
A hard thing for me is to have self control. I tend to get mad over silly things that don't matter. Thats why my challenge lately has been to go to God for help when someone does something I don't like. Or I just try to let it go and not deal with it anymore.
Yes, Alyssa, cultivating the fruit of the Spirit is a difficult task. We need to seek constant direction from the Gardener.
My hard thing would be to try to exercise more. It is very hard to get into the routine. I think if I start easy enough than it will be a piece of cake.
My hard thing would be to not get distracted. I do nearly all of my school work on the computer, so with the internet at literally at my finger tips it's hard to stay focused.I tell myself that I just need to pay attention to my school work and get it done, then I can goof of later, but the other half of my says the opposite. Eventually what should have only taken 15-20 minutes takes up to a hour. So I will resist the urge to procrastinate this week.
probably a hard thing would be to focus on school. I cant stand school work. I focus most of the time on what everyone else is doing besides school work. like Matt said though you have to do school in order to pass.
For starters, cleaning up my clutter. Another rather hard thing I face everyday is the decision to eat the right way. I have rules of my own that are good. I always eat healthy too. That's not my problem though. It's when I eat and how much. I have struggled with this all my life, but like the little guy lifting the bowed barbell in the picture, I am going to put his one over my head. It's just a matter of discipline and time.
Alas, my fellow warrior in the battle of the bulge, when we are on the front line we face a lot of opposition. However, we are closer to the target.
My hard thing is waking up early...well, waking up period. I would rather sleep until 9:00 or 10:00 AM any day and stay up until midnight or 1:00 AM than wake up around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. In other words, I would definitely be characterized as a "night owl". Whenever I set my alarm clock, which hardly ever happens, I grope for the snooze button or completely turn the annoying noise off. Then, I tell myself, "Ok, wake up!" But no, I sleep for thirty or even sixty more minutes. I do wake up around 7:00 or 8:00 because my mom does not put up with me staying in bed late when there is work to be done; however, I still feel the effects until around 10:00 or 10:30. So yes, as I write this blog at 8:54 AM, my head wants a pillow while my hands type away.
One of my hard things is procrastinating.I truggle with this everyday and unless I force myself to do whatever it is I'm procrastinating over right then and there, I will put it off until the last minute and end up being stressed over it.
~Christy Bacon
Hard things hmm I would have to say waking up at 6:30 every morning is pretty hard for me.
Sometimes I have a hard time with some of the people that I work with. When it feels like they are ganging up on me and trying to find fault with everything I do, it is hard to know what to say. So, I deal with it by walking away and saying, Whatever! This is the only way that I know how to deal with this problem.
My hard thing has to be not letting people get to me. If someone says something untrue about me, I tend to become very defensive and retaliate by confronting them...not in person of course, because I am too scared, but instead over the internet. I know it is a sad thing.
Even if someone says something and doesn't directly say it to or about me, I somehow feel that they meant me, when more times than not, it had nothing to do with me, and I get worked up over nothing.
Well, I'd have to say that the hardest thing for me to do would be listening to my parents without questioning them. I have this trouble with everything, I have the uncontrolable need to ask 'why?'. Unless you give me a legitimate reason to do something, I likely won't do it. I even question myself, which can get me some strange looks from people around me. That's one thing I need to and have been working on in life, doing things withour question. Second guessing yourself and others tends to cause issues. :\
-Alaina
I just have to pipe in here and say that I really appreciate everyone's honesty this week. It's not always easy revealing weaknesses about ourselves, but our vulnerability brings us healing and strength in the long run. James 5:16 says we should confess our trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that we may be healed. I know this is a blog; this weekend it becomes my prayer list. All of you hold a special place in my heart.
Demetri, exercise isn't a piece of cake; but turning down a piece of cake is quite an exercise!
Galactus, procrastination is my middle name. I, too, have to really work hard at doing something now that I could easily put of until tomorrow.
As much as you dislike it, Josh, school is your job until you graduate and get "promoted." "Do everything heartily, as unto the Lord," and every task is much less difficult and much more pleasurable.
Upon your graduation from college, Tina (assuming you make it to your morning classes), we shall pray for you to have a job with a graveyard shift!
As I told Galactus, Christy, we procrastinators have to stick together and defy our creed that says, "Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow." Too many other surprises hit when tomorrow comes, so again I say, "Don't put off until tomorrow the things you can do today."
DC, go to bed earlier. And give yourself a break now and then . . . set the alarm for 6:35!
Anonymous, one of the hardest and bravest things ever do to is keep quiet, even when you are right or feel you need to defend yourself. My husband's motto is: "Better to be silent and be thought the fool than to speak and remove all doubt."
Shay, I reiterate my responses to Anonymous and Alyssa. It looks like we all (adults included) could use a horticulture refresher course.
Alaina, questions are good. Obedience is better. Most of the time, we get the answers after we have obeyed. Your parents are the major sanctifying influences in your life. That is, God is using your parents to shape you and bring you into closer fellowship with Him. You know what's cool? You are a sanctifying influence in their lives too.
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