WE CAN DO HARD THINGS:
I like to read a blog called, "The Daily Stoic". The author, Ryan Holliday's words are inspired by Marcus Aurelius and for me, fill in the lessons I have learned from a religious upbringing with some more worldly, practical advice: how to deal with difficult people, how to pep up the drops in my own motivation, how to stay honest, how to forgive. One day, the line "We can do hard things" popped out at me from Mr. Holliday's blog page, and as I went to a golf clinic later that day to learn how to get out of the bunker, I started to sing the line to the hacking of balls in the sand. By days end, a song about perseverance with enough of a groove to change my weary attitude about hard work, was born.
This song is a part of my 2023 compilation called, “Quilted: a colorful patchwork of original songs and the stories that stitched them”. The subject of this song, stocked with a message as strong as home, folds nicely into my “Log Cabin Quilt” hope chest. *
I took the song to Jon Quinn at Quinn Music who worked quietly on the arrangement behind the scenes. When he sent me such a fresh, funky take on the song, at first I wasn't so sure. But then I "did a hard thing"...I trusted him. I got over myself...and together we developed this gem of a song into a finished sound recording. With this tune l will never again accomplish hard things without a spring in my step, a chop in my golf swing, and a melody fit for an ear worm. Go work hard. You got this.
LYRICS: We Can Do Hard Things
Verse 1:
Life is hard, but it's a gift
and it seems the whole world is complaining
and fighting
while the orange blossoms bloom
Verse 2:
Now I don't wanna think
that I got everything
figured out
I just wanna find what joy I can
and spread it around
Chorus:
(don't you know) We can do hard things
We're strong and we're brave, we can handle much more than we think
Some we win, some we lose
Some door's gonna close while another swings open for you
for you
Verse 3:
So what are these hard things?
Can you name one for me?
Like say you wanna go out there and climb that tall tree
And what if somebody sees you fall
they might laugh at you and call you a fake
but the truth is nobody's really watching
so that's a chance you can take
Chorus:
We can do hard things
We're strong and we're brave we can handle much more than we think
So stop your thinking now
and move along, move along
and take a breath
between the hard things
You got this
Yeah baby you got this, steady now
*What is a "Log Cabin" Quilt?
https://www.nps.gov/home/planyourvisit/quilt-discovery-experience.htm
The Log Cabin block is one of the most well-known and popular of all patchwork patterns. To pioneers traveling West, it symbolized home, warmth, love and security. The center square of the block was done in red to represent the hearth, the focal point of life in a cabin or home.
The name, Log Cabin, comes from the narrow strips of fabric, or logs arranged around the center square. Each fabric strip or log was added to the pattern in much the same way logs were stacked to build a cabin; and because the straight lines and small pieces of the pattern could utilize almost any fabric scrap available, it often became the final step in the recycling of fabric.
Many Log Cabin patterns were worked in two color schemes, lights and darks, divided diagonally in the middle. This represented the sun's east to west movement in the sky. As the sun rose, its light shown on the cabin, creating the light side of the block. As the sun traveled west, part of the cabin was left in the shadow, creating the dark side of the block. This is often called the Sunshine and Shadow pattern.