Do Hard Things

So, fellow Teenagers, I have a question. Teenage Years: Preparation For Life, or Permission to Loaf? Most would say that we think it is permission to loaf. I have a friend who is ashamed to be called a teenager because some people consider "Teenagers" to mean "Sloppy, stupid, Lazy people who are wasting thier lives and will never amount to anything" (Note: That is NOT my opinion of teenagers, you should not feel insulted! but, you must admit, there are some who fall in that category)
So, to combat that view and get teens moving, two guys named Alex & Brett Harris wrote a book called 'Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations' And all I could think of is "What's harder than doing NaNo?" Jk, I know there are lots of things, but I did think that it would be cool to have a Thread dedicated to Doing Hard Things. So the idea is to use this thread as like a big club of teenagers who want to Do Hard Things. Bccome friends, dscuss hard things and etc. Pretty much anything you want, as long as you follow the rules:)
1. No Swearing, please don't forget this is an all-ages forum.
2. No out and out fighting, debating is fine but don't let it get out of hand.
3. Follow the Golden Rule! (Just be nice:)
And 1 last thing, by posting on here know that you are signing this (but it's not legallly binding unless you want it to be) I'll start us off.
I Will Do Hard Things. I will not sit back and allow my life to pass me by. I will not give in to the low expectations people have for me. And I will not let their low opinion of me hold me back. I will Make my life count, I will not take the easy route, I will do Hard Things. Lily Laria Laton.

Oops! I kinda lied, there's one more thing (but this is really it I promise) The Book Do Hard Things is a Christian book and is really about Doing Hard Things for God, but I did not want people who don't believe in God to think they are no welcome on this thread, they are very welcome. Doing Hard things is important no matter what, and all I want is to see a bunch of teens (myself included) exceeding expectations whether it's done for God or not. Just so you know. And if you have an opinion about this, please do tell! No matter what your veiw is you are welcome, as long as you follow the rules:) So anyone want to do something hard?

I've read that book a few times, it's awesome. I'm always trying to do hard things!

Yay! 2 people in 9 hours! One thing I forgot to mention that if you want to introduce yourself (like what you want to be called, age.. anything else you want to mention:) That would be great:D
So, I'm Lily, I'm 15, I'm homeschooled, I'm a Christian and... that's everything interesting about me:D

Hi, people of the Internet! You can call me anything, but to ensure I know who you're talking to it'd be easiest just to say Casey. Or Rose or Labyrinth. 15. On the less healthy side of the mental health spectrum. Rather cynical, but I perk up a bit on the NaNo forums on account of NaNoers are nice.
I also have a habit of bursting out into song, so my posts might randomly capitalize and turn into song lyrics :3

Hmm, a Hard Thing? I'm going to attempt Screnzy even though I have no idea how I'll ever figure out how to write a play.

Ello. I'm Gabbi. 16. Jewish if we're going around mentioning religions but I tend towards the more agnostic side of the belief scale (I believe there's something but I don't know what). Crazy liberal, but always trying to see the other side (and also always up for a good debate if anybody wants to debate anything).

As for doing hard things:
I go to prep school, so that's crazy in-and-of itself...
I'm in a teen dance company through my school (we're in a performance week right now, I just got home from a matinée, and I'm too lazy to take off my makeup so I'm still in total stage makeup...)
NaNo, even though I allowed myself two months instead of one, because November was a bad rehearsal month
An independent project in journalism through social media through my school's paper (which I really should be working on right now, but I did a lot last week so I'm slacking this week)
And right now I'm filling out some of the last forms to get me a lab mentor for a two-year research project I'm starting over the summer in either behavioral genetics or behavioral neuroscience which I am SUPER PSYCHED about :D

Wow. That's actually a lot more than I realized I did... Honestly the hardest thing for me is maintaining a social life... :P

I've heard of that book; I'm really happy about it, I think that maybe it will show adults that teens really can be kind and work hard.

Hard things I'm doing include writing a novel (duh), teaching myself violin and a few other instruments, and learning Greek.

I haven't heard of the book, but the concept behind it sounds interesting.

So, hi. I'm Cherri, 18, just started University in my favourite place ever [which is Wales, if you're interested]. :3

The hard things I'm doing at the moment? Finally doing some proper world building for a world I've already set two novels in and really needs it before I can rewrite them. Trying to pass my driving test [failed for the second time on Friday. But third time's the charm!]. Sending off emails to try and find some work experience over the summer [it's hard because I'm really bad at selling myself, and generally terrified of asking people for anything], and completing the first year of my Degree course.

And just to add as a point to your first post, out of my need to comment on things. I think there are a few teenagers who fall into the group that you've described, but no where near as many as people seem to think. Why? Because our teenage years tend to be the ones where a lot of teens put a lot of work into Sixth Form, College, University etc. [or, those of us who go, at any rate.] I think people often overlook that when trying to describe teenagers. :3

Intro? My name's Matt, I'm 16, homeschooled, Catholic, nerd, musician, aaaaaaaand... I've done NaNo three times! *nods*

Hey, y'all! My name is Laura, and if the "y'all" didn't make it obvious, I'm from Arkansas. Yeah, that's right, the deep south. I'm the only person in my small town that does NaNo. I'm a Christian, (Southern Baptist,) and my hard thing is that right now I'm learning to play piano. Most people start learning when they're like, five, but noooo, apparently age fourteen was the best time for me to start. I'm fourteen years old, by the way. Yeah. And the books I'm learning from are meant for small children, which makes me feel really stupid, which makes it even worse.

In other news, I'm really long winded and sometimes I tend to give lectures worth of information to people who don't care at all. Oops. (If you actually want to know anything else about me, I have the little bio thing and whatnot, or you can message me.)

I'm glad to see other teens taking initiative, I'm glad this thread exists, and I'm also glad for a number of other, unrelated things.

I have a weird feeling that I'll be back.

Hey, I'm so excited to see all you guys:) So, as for my hard things I'm doing Screnzy, NaNo, Learning Italian, and trying to get in shape for outdoor soccer.

GAHHH!!! HARD THINGS = FRUSTRATION!

So I mentioned a lab thing earlier, and now I'm doing research into finding a mentor (forms are done, now I just need to find a couple working with things I am interested in) but finding the mentor I want is hard!!! I'm just reading through the publications of professors and researchers at various institutes and stuff and trying to guess what they would be working on now and IT'S FRUSTRATING. I JUST WANT TO GET MY MENTOR AND GET TO RESEARCHING!

Rant over. But seriously, if anyone has any ideas on how to sort through this...

Hey, guess what? I went to church with the guys who wrote that book. In fact, I even played basketball with them. Lol, they're family are close friends of ours. :) But I still have yet to read the book.

yeah, they're really neat guys. :)

Hello, people. My name's Isabel... I'm an all-around nerd and a college student studying physics and English. Since we're all mentioning our religions I'm a sort-of Christian currently tending toward the agnostic side of things.

Do hard things? I can do hard things. Currently trying to finish the story I started last November, learning to kickbox, and studying physics and English.

I want to tell somebody that I have been reading the LotR trilogy for almost the past year and last night at 11:30 I FINISHED THE BOOKS!! And I literally read 90% of the Return of the King in the last 2 days, I was on Va-k and really wanted to get it done so I read like all day. Anyway, that's my celebration for the day, not really a hard thing just time consuming and I wanted to do a shout out cuz I'm so excited:) (and secretly this is partially a Bump for the thread, but sshhhh, don't tell=P)

Hi call me Marga. 13, and Christian. I love doing hard things(or at least I try to do them). My stubbornness always makes me push through with them. I agree, teens CAN do hard things.
So currently, I'm struggling with piano lessons. Finishing my first draft 2.0 of my nano novel(was restarted). And it's nearing the end of the school year( I'm Filipino and the time of the school year is different from that of the U.S. ) and I'm going to graduate soon(so nervous). Trying to get super high grades this year.

Hello, I'm Matt. I am 15 and a Freshman in High School. Like most of you, I'm christian.

Some hard things I'm doing would be Nanowrimo, and getting along with people in school that seem to show no common decency or consideration for others.

One quote that Greg Harris - Alex and Brett's father - has is "Do ordinary things extraordinarily well". I really like that, and am trying to apply it more to my life.

Hi again. I'm gonna have another rant (and also bump the page. what? you didn't hear that from me)

So I think I'm driving my advisor crazy. I've been obsessively checking my email for the past week, and it's been over a week, and I visited her today, and she said to calm down because she had had to meet with the Dean and the other director of the program before she could contact the mentors but I'm STILL checking my email compulsively and she laughed at me and said she was glad I was enthusiastic. BUT I JUST WANT TO GET TO RESEARCH! I WANT TO WORK ON THE BRAINS NOWWWWW! My new goal of hard things: patience.

Also, college. I really don't want to think about college. Until my mom mentioned college yesterday. And the colleges keep emailing me. And my school has college tour in a month and a half AND I'M NOT READY FOR THIS! I am a sophomore and I don't want to care! I don't want to think about my AP Exams (bio is gonna kill me if anybody wants to debate over PM evolution/creation, it honestly would help me study because I need to "learn to articulate better" and that's an easy one to practice with since it's arguing, I promise I'm nice). And I don't want to think about SAT IIs (I have to take 3 this year and I don't want to). And I don't want to think about course planning for next year and how many APs I need to take. And I don't want to think about the SAT and I think I'm the only person I know who isn't studying yet. And I don't want colleges to keep emailing me and sending me mail. Especially Texas Christian University. They need to stop. GAHHH!


Also, HI NEW PEOPLE! I'm the resident ranter, using this as my sort-of-diary/stress reliever in my day-to-day life of doing hard things. Anyone who wishes to join me in ranting should feel free, you know, make me feel less crazy and all...

And @IrelandChic, I like that quote. A lot. :D

Hello! Thank you to Gabbi for the *looks to see if anyone is looking and whispers* bumb.

Sorry I haven't been on in a while, I'm currently addicted to Figment:P
So Yup, Gabbi now has an official title 'Resident Ranter' I'll write that down:) But she can always use some help so feel free to offer your own rants!!

Gabbi, having patience is a hard thing we all need to do... I'll have to add that to my list:)