“Be proud of yourself for how hard you’re trying.” Unknown

On the Other Side of Trying Hard: Healing, Happiness, and Holiness is a book for anybody who woke up one morning and thought, How’d I end up where I didn’t want to be after years, maybe even decades, of trying hard?

It’s for those of us who tried hard to straighten everyone out, get everything right, and make everything better – to be perfect – only to end up feeling like we messed up everything. 

It’s for any of us who turned into control freaks because we didn’t think our people were trying hard enough.  

It’s for all of us who made trying hard our god.  

We’ve been full of pride like the quote at the beginning said we should be. There are dozens of similar quotes to encourage us to keep on. We are proud to be trying hard for expensive homes, children who make straight As, sports trophies, higher test scores, job promotions, stunning vacation pictures, perfect family photos, beautiful selfies … the list goes on.   

My purpose for writing the book is to get us to the other side of the struggle. I want what I’ve glimpsed on the flipside of trying hard, which is healing, happiness, and holiness. 

I’m hoping you want these things also because it’s difficult to watch family and friends trying hard for the wrong things. Instead of giving into trying hard for worldly things, I want us trying hard for God – whatever that means. 

I wanted to include a list (like I’m supposed to do) of what you’ll get from reading the book, but my bullet points sounded silly except the first one. 

So, here it is.

You’re not alone. You’re not the only one who tried hard, but failed. You’re also not finished, and not because you need to try harder, but because you don’t. 

Thanks for showing up here. I hope you’ll join the conversation.

In This Together,
Kim