This week's book: "The River of Doubt" by Candice Millard.
"Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."
Theodore Roosevelt
Great quote right! We should all be so lucky to have that sense of purpose in our lives.
It's Saturday, so let's pull the week together.
Here's a question I've been marinating on all week: how much are we actually capable of, when life demands more from us than we think we have? This week's book is one long, brutal, inspiring answer.
We started with Roosevelt at a low point. He'd been President. He'd been shot campaigning to become President again. Then he lost the election and sank into a low place. So, what did he do for his next act? He went to Brazil and chose, deliberately, maybe the hardest thing of all: to join an expedition mapping an uncharted tributary of the Amazon. Then we watched as that idea became real and seven questionable dugout canoes pushed off into hundreds of miles of unknown jungle. It's easy to be brave while the adventure is still an idea. The test begins after you commit and push off from shore.
Then the river tested them: hunger, disease, rapids, lost canoes, death. Roosevelt himself, feverish and fifty pounds lighter, was personally ready to be left behind to die. Then he realized the only way to save his son Kermit was to survive himself. Love carried him out of that jungle when strength no longer could.
My honest take on the book: it's superb. Order it today. Millard tells a true survival story at the pace of a thriller, and she makes you sense you’re actually in the jungle, feeling the fear, and the sheer will it took to keep moving. It's darker than my usual picks, I'll say that plainly, there's real death and real suffering in it. But it's one of the best books I've read on what human beings are capable of after everything has been stripped away. If you like history, adventure, Teddy Roosevelt, or just a story that grips you and doesn't let go, read it.
Now here's what I'm taking from this week, and it's even bigger than Roosevelt himself.
We are almost always capable of more than we believe. But we’ll never find that out by standing safely on the shore. We’ll find it by choosing something worth pursuing, pushing off before we feel ready, and refusing to quit when life asks more of us than we thought we had. Roosevelt didn't discover what he was made of by wondering about it. He discovered it on a river that nearly killed him. Spoiler alert… you don’t have to go to that extreme!
That's real growth. And you don't need an Amazon expedition to find yours, you need a river of your own, whatever it is you've been standing beside, working up the nerve to enter.
One challenge for the week ahead
Name the hard thing you've been avoiding, the one that scares you a little, or a lot, precisely because it matters. You don't have to conquer it this week. Just take a real step. Sign up. Make that call. Write the first page. Book the appointment. Growth will never come from wondering what if. It only comes from doing.
What's your river of doubt? I'd love to hear, if you feel like sharing.
I'll go first: mine is All Star Mentors. I don't know exactly where it leads. But I pushed off from shore, and this week I'm a little further downriver than I was last week.
Next week
I'll be back Monday with next week's book and a fresh insight.
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I'll be back Monday,
Mike
Practical wisdom for the life you're building