Do Hard Things Chapter 3 A Better Way-

Chapter 3 explains how the teen years are the launch pad for your life, and how your need to realize the importance of those years.

Most youth act as if the teen years are just a break and they can grow up whenever they choose. Like they were never behind in their life but everyone who behaves like that will regret it later in life because the chose not to grow when they should have. It's not an instant switch to living a more mature life, it takes work and time to become what you are supposed to be. So if you choose to wait until later to grow up you will miss a lot in life.

And to make it even worse.....the world extends to "kidults" which is basically a new term started in 2005  referencing the time from the 20's-30's where now it even extends the "teen years" for another decade!! Now you have an even longer "break" from responsibility/maturity. Showing the world has extremely low expectations not just for your teen years, but for your life.

You have to set challenges for yourself to take you outside your comfort zone which will raise your expectations of yourself and help you grow. The things you should have done in your teen years you cannot get back later in life. The time to start maturing is now!

next chapter....That First Scary Step-

Do Hard Things Chapter 2-

Chapter two starts off explaining how Alex and Bret started their book and website. And how if people team up they can spread a message using their different talents way better than just one person on their own.

If people have greater expectations of teens (or anyone) then they will rise to meet that challenge if that is what is expected of them, and they have to be willing to go for the challenge. Like if a thirteen year old is expected to meet the expectations of a twenty four year old, they will rise up to meet that challenge. Most teens don’t do much (not hard workers, play a lot etc.) because they are not expected to, and feeds the world view of "teens". They will automatically set low expectations for themselves because it is easy in the moment. But in the long run, it will not help at all. Getting by with the least possible effort is never beneficial and will never help the person to grow/mature.

For example when you hear the word “teen” what first comes to your mind?? Lazy, moody, arrogant, selfish, that is what the world says about teens. What if more was expected from teens? That would completely change the world. It is impossible to have every teen in the world instantly change, but individual teens sharing the message with others is possible. If 1,000 teens that have heard the message from chapter two and shared it with one teen the number would obviously double……and so on. If people were committed to changing their own hearts and sharing with others it could have a big impact on the world. Low expectations also keep teens from digging deeper into Gods Word...actually maturing!  Which as a teen, being in the Word would definitely help your maturing as you get older, it is vital. Many teens are bound by the world’s low expectations keeping them from being what they are called to be; it is time to raise our expectations.

Next post…..The Myth of Adolescence

Do Hard Things-

The first chapter titled, Most People Don't......is about how the world has really low expectations for teens, and how the world says that the “teen years” are your time just to goof off and get away with the least expected from you, when really they are the launch pad for your life. If you just waste away your teen years doing nothing beneficial for your future then that will shape the rest of your life so it’s a good idea to start off right. Doing hard things doesn’t mean doing hard things like finishing a video game on a hard level, or doing things that are pointless hard things just because they are hard, it is doing things that help you step out of your comfort zone and taking steps in faith as you mature into a Godly man or woman.


It can be anything from something as simple as doing the dishes without being asked to, to sharing the bible with someone that does not know about it. Do hard Things is about a better way to start your teen years, and if you start during your teen years what could you accomplish in your lifetime??


Second chapter The Birth of a Big Idea....coming soon......

Transition-

I have not blogged in a while because I am not as interested in bugs as I used to be, and this was a blog about bugs. i have decided that now I am going to transition into blogging about my interests...books, guitar, etc. first I am going to start posting about a book I have been reading called “Do Hard Things” by Alex and Brett Harris. after each chapter I am going to post a little about it here.

babies!!!

while at camp this year a friend of mine helped me catch an alligator lizard then Mr. Farley helped me set up a little habitat to get it home. Mama found me a large tank at a garage sale and then Papa helped me with a heat lamp and the habitat. Well this morning I noticed the mama was pushing dirt around and these little babies would pop up out of the dirt! I have found 6 total and I am so thrilled. I have already named them Mama is Gandalf, babies~ Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry and Smeagol :) not sure which is which or what we will do if more hatch lol. Anyone want an Alligator lizard???

10 Lined June Beetle

This is my new addition, to my living bug collection. It's a 10 Lined June Beetle, and I have been hunting for a living one for over 5 years. I have 2 dead ones but the living ones have been hard to catch. My mama read where one man searched for 37 years in our area and never found a living species. Unfortunately, mine won't live long. It's only purpose in it's adult life is to breed one time and lay eggs. The male reason to live is over when he has mated with a female and the female life is over after she's laid her eggs. Mine is a female and I have no idea if she has laid eggs or not! If she has already laid eggs somewhere she may live a coupe of days. If not, she will live a while longer. To find out how I finally got this one click here.

I have been researching what they need in their habitat and i put in about two inches of dirt because they like to burrow, the cotton ball dipped in water: is its water source, the conifer needle is its food source, the wood is its shelter.
Me holding her. She is about an 1 1/2 inches long and she makes the loudest, RADDEST hissing noise!

THANK YOU MR. & MRS. RAZBERRY for thinking of me!!

surprised

I spend spring collecting caterpillars and chrysalis'. But this chrysalis came out as a wasp, It should have been a garden tiger moth. This happens when an adult wasp lays an egg on a caterpillar. When the caterpillar went into its chrysalis, the wasp larva emerged from its egg and ate the caterpillar. This is a great way God gives the wasp its own protection from predators, during this time in their life when they are most vulnerable. It is very rare to find a chrysalis/cocoon that has a wasp larva in it, so I was very fortunate to witness this!

butterflies (video at bottom)

The Painted Lady's emerged from their chrysalis about 2 weeks ago.

Here is a picture of one just breaking out.

We could tell this one was ready to emerge because we could see the colors of the wing through the chrysalis. It had been black then turned to the orange.

The chrysalis's before they turned black. I had more pictures but we cannot find them! These 2 were supposed to be hanging like the chrysalis's below, but the last caterpillar to go into a chrysalis knocked these two off the hanging paper.

Just to give you an idea how I hang them inside of a mesh bug habitat.

All but one caterpillar in chrysalises.

The first caterpillar ready to hang from the top of the cup as it transforms into a chrysalis. You can see how big the caterpillars are from when I first got them, click here to see them when they first arrived. Below is a video of a butterfly emerging. The red that you see off to the side is not blood, it is a fluid that they use to pump their wings shortly after emerging.

catching up

I am going to do a few short posts today to get caught up. Above is a spider we found in mama's soil she had delivered! It is about 1 inch across, very active and is always trying to get out of it's container. To be allowed to keep it in the house I have put rubber bands around the entire jar as an extra way to keep the lid on!
Here it is eating a cricket.

meet Lucy

Me finally getting to hold my new Tarantula. I let my mama name all my Tarantulas since she absolutely cannot stand spiders! You should ask her why sometime!!! She named my first one Fern and this one Lucy, can you guess where she gets names from????

Happy to finally be taking her home!

The store clerk showing me how big my spiderling has gotten.

I special ordered this spider back in fall. they finally had some spiderlings that arrived in January. I had to wait until she was big enough to bring her home, but it was fun visiting the store and watching her progress. It was even better bringing her home!

spiders like what???

My mama had this tums on her nightstand and she went to reach for it (luckily it was light out) and there was this guy sitting on top eating the tums! My mama screamed out for me to grab a jar and HURRY!! The spider will not stop eating the tums!! She is lucky she looked before she ate it!!!!

hungry girl

Fern enjoying her meal! You can see the cricket hanging out of her mouth.