doing hard things

Photo above by Julia Shah.

I read a book a couple years ago written by two brothers about doing hard things as teenagers. The premise of the book was basically that young people have an enormous amount of untapped potential and we need to get up off the couch and do something about it. The book was really good, but I didn’t feel called to start a business or jump into helping a political campaign at thirteen . Recently I’ve learned you don’t always get to choose your hard things.

Everyone has things in their lives that are hard to do, ranging from sending a difficult email to just getting up in the morning.

When we encounter hard things, it’s easy to complain or procrastinate, and we’d rather put ourselves through that pain than face the actual hard thing.

I don’t have a formula for how to make hard things easy, life on this planet comes with having to do hard things, but I’ve learned a little from this past year.

These are some of the hard things I have in my life right now:

Walking into places alone
- I hate it. It’s so hard to do, even if you know people there. Really, this is only hard because I have a fear of awkward. (This is also a downside to having your license, because you don’t carpool as much you meet people at places more than driving there with them.) It hasn’t led to my demise yet, I’ll keep ya posted.
Anxiety surrounding horse shows
- I love showing, I really do. For some reason recently I get super nervous the night before them and the morning of, when I am getting ready. I think it’s because it’s the one thing in my life I really don’t want to fail at, and feel like I might. God’s teaching me to trust. He’s called me to riding and I know deep down in my soul it’s something I could never give up. If I want to keep riding and enjoying riding, I need to hand over the reins to God (haha see what I did there?).
What team am I cheering for?
- This is not just literally ‘what team do I cheer for when my old school is playing my current school?’, but where I spend my time. Do I invest in a new friend this weekend or hang out with the old ones? Which Young Life should I go to? Who should I pursue a relationship with? I am constantly searching for balance in this area of my life.
College
- I have to ask for teacher recommendation letters this week and am honestly dreading it. This is a short term hard thing but it may determine a lot of long term decisions. I know I should not be worried, but I tend to take any sort of “no” personally (even if it has nothing to do with me). It’s a little more complicated than just asking your favorite teachers. Some teachers don’t write them no matter what, and some schools like to see letters from specific subjects. Prayers are appreciated in this area.
Putting my darn phone down
- It’s funny how when I put my phone down, I start doing things that matter. This evening I challenged myself to put it down for 2 hours and I managed to read a chapter of a book, do a little Bible study/self reflection, put chlorine in the pool, and start this blog post which I was not planning on writing. I am tempted constantly to just watch Netflix or scroll through social media to give my brain a break. This is not all bad, I spend a lot of time thinking, planning, and doing work that I need to check out every once in a while. However, I know once I reach boredom with my 828374th episode of The Office or 16th slime video, I have gone to far. I often have to reach boredom before I start getting creative, but if I’d just put my phone down in the first place, I’d have a lot more time and energy to be creative.
Putting chlorine in the pool
- Y’all… It smells like poison, I have to clean out some questionable bugs before I can put the tablets of death in the filter, and I must do all of this without breathing because if I breath bad things will probably happen.
- If this isn’t a first world problem, I don’t know what is.
- I am super dramatic.

I’m learning to tackle the hard thing before it tackles me. This means giving my worries to God (usually in prayer), maybe reading a Bible verse or two, and not letting myself dwell in anxiety, procrastination, or complaining.

I’m learning showing up is important. I’ve heard the phrase “show up for life” around lately and I love it because that’s what we need in world where it’s easy to coast through life without looking up. Showing up for life means walking into each day intentionally instead of letting daily events drag you around. Did your alarm clock rudely wake you up this morning or did it remind you when to get up and put your game face on? Perspective is important.

Not today, satan. Not any day. This phrase is so awesome, I have a sticker on my water bottle that says it. It’s a lighthearted way to say darkness has no hold on my day. Sometimes I use it when driving, but lets keep that on the DL.

As always, thanks for reading and letting me share a little of my life and heart with you. I hope you have a joyful day and tackle some hard things 🙂 ❤

P.s. here are some pics for a show I was super nervous for. Smudge and I got 1st in a height we don’t usually jump. ❤ (alright God, I see you)