This is from the Art of Manliness blog.
The 5 things:
- You can aspire to and achieve greatness no matter who you are and no matter your stage in life
- A great leader knows when it’s time to step back and let go
- There are some things in life we just have to accomplish on our own
- To simply continue on is one of the bravest things that can be done
- A great story always has conflict or hardship
And my favorite of the five – the one that had meaning for me – is #5:
5. A great story always has conflict or hardship. Imagine your life as a story. Not too long ago, we even had a guest post about this — our life is a journey, and a heroic one at that. Imagine yourself sitting down with your grandkids and telling them the story of you. “Well, I made some money, bought a few cars, sat around and watched TV for a few hours every night, and that’s about it.” Pretty boring, isn’t it? Now imagine that you can start hours worth of stories with, “I explored…I traveled…I fell in love…I fought and won…I overcame…I sweated…” Not only would the story be better, but you likely would be far more satisfied with the course of your life.
J.R.R. Tolkien agrees. “Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyways.” He is saying that a life of good ease is a boring one. It’s often what the American dream aspires to, but the reality is that personal growth, and even enjoyment, are things that come out of some kind of challenge. Whether it’s huffing and puffing and groaning your way up a mountain for the view at the top, or getting laid off and finally realizing you don’t want to be in a cubicle anymore, joy is often found after a bit of trudging. Don’t shy away from challenge. Embrace it, and know that someday it’ll make for a great story.
The Hobbit was the first big book that I ever read as a child, and I think that it inspired me to move far away from home as soon as I completed graduate school, so I could make my fortune. An adventurous spirit isn’t free – it has to be put into a boy by what he reads. When I was young, I read “The Hobbit”. You should make your children read “The Hobbit”. Put into their minds at a young age the idea that life is an adventure, that dangers and hardships are normal, and that character counts. Put into their minds that all goodness requires sacrifice. I think that things are going to get harder for Christians going forward so it’s better that they be ready for it.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
“An adventurous spirit isn’t free – it has to be put into a boy by what he reads.”
What a great line! (And great wisdom.)
One of the saddest things to me is seeing kids – but especially boys – who seem to have no ambition/desire for adventure. It’s like their spirit is dead.
No wonder boys and even men so often lose themselves in video games. It’s a substitute for real life that they simply can’t find in the real world anymore.
LikeLike
I loved video games, and especially fantasy role-playing games as a child. The trick is to realize that real life has to be made into an adventure, and no game can deliver that.
LikeLike
My kids will definitely be reading The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They have been some of my favorite books since I was a kid. I think I read The Hobbit when I was 8 or 9 and haven’t been able to get enough Tolkien since then.
By the way, if you like epics like these, have you read the Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker? You would like it. It’s got a lot of allegory to it, but it’s a great story in itself. Good vs. evil, fighting, another world…great stuff.
LikeLike
Have not read that! I wonder if there is an audio book version… hmmmn.
LikeLike
I know this was for men, but this is kind of inspirational for me too :)
LikeLike
Well, it’s for women too, then.
LikeLike
One of the greatest stories ever. I feel I should let you know of a resource I’ve discovered on youtube. A man named Phil Dragash has been working on an audio book/audio drama hybrid featuring the LOTR Trilogy for the last few years, and he just finished the last chapter a few months ago. He has done a phenomenal job on everything, especially considering he was the ONLY one putting it together! He does all the narration, ALL the characters’ voices (which he pulls off extremely well…particularly Saruman, Gollum, and Pippin), he adds sound effects to help enhance the experience, he uses the beautiful soundtrack from the New Line Cinema films appropriately, and he makes it all available to download in mp3 format for FREE! I’m telling you, if you enjoy Tolkien’s world, you’ll want to check these out! If you type “LOTR reading” into youtube, one of Phil’s recordings should appear on top. He links to the mp3 download for each chapter from his youtube account. Just thought I’d alert you and your readers to this in case you weren’t already aware of it. It really is a treasure.
LikeLike
Wow! I will check it out, thanks!
LikeLike
I’ve started listening and it’s amazing! More people need to learn of it!
LikeLike
Oh, just wait until some of the later chapters! Then his talent will really shine!
LikeLike