We Can Do Hard Things!

This post has been modified and was originally posted 7/20/2010

My family and I recently returned from a trip to Utah—hence the dearth in blogs lately…During the trip we spent much of our time at a beautiful lake near the Bear River Mountains. One day our group planned various hikes through the majestic mountains with rugged terrain and peaks that soared to nearly 10,000 feet. With a pregnant wife and three young children my family decided we’d stick to the flat, even surfaced three quarter mile hike. However, at the last minute we decided to try the somewhat steep and rocky 8 mile hike—just to see how far we could make it before turning back. To my surprise, and with my 2 year-old son in arms nearly the entire trip, our family completed the eight mile hike together.

In life, we are often faced with challenges and opportunities that are difficult and often seem impossible. However, our potential and capacity is amazing. Many times we underestimate or do not realize what we can do. Many times we put self-imposed limits on ourselves and say in essence, ‘I’m just going to play it safe and stick with the flat ¾ mile hike’.  By so doing we fail to venture to the unknown or dare to do the impossible.  We don’t even give the 8 mile hikes that face us a chance. Whether it’s fear, a lack of confidence, complacency, or other reasons, we often hold back and do not push ourselves. For some reason, somewhere along our life journey, we begin to believe we cannot do hard things. I have learned through this hiking experience and other experiences that we can in fact do hard things. We can do things that are beyond our own wildest imaginations, if we allow ourselves to believe and try.

At the beginning of the day I never believed my family could or would complete the trip. I thought it would be too difficult for us, but we did it. It wasn’t always easy, and at times I doubted we’d make it all the way; but we did. And because we did, we were able to view some of the most spectacular views and enjoy the peace and serenity of the mountains. We saw wild flowers blooming in colorful, luscious fields, majestic peaks soaring high above us in the air, a buck scampering across snow in search of food, and a calm crystal-clear hidden lake. The reward for our efforts was beauty and tranquility all around us, as well as a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. And for my 5 and 6 year-olds, who walked the entire trip on their own, they can now look back on this experience and feel good about who they are and what they can achieve.

So what rewards are we missing, because we are unwilling to do hard things? And why do we deny ourselves of the incredible sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from achieving difficult tasks? Our potential is great, and each of us has the capacity to do great things. Let’s stop holding back, and start believing that we can do hard things!