Do Hard Things – Yere Wo Ho

Like the popular Ghanaian motivational phrase, “yere wo ho”. I once understood it in the most literal way.

As a child, I imagined myself sitting still with clenched fists, staring straight ahead like the commander of an army gritting my teeth as I imagined Yaa Asantewaa did in her fight against the British in 1900. It felt like a necessary incantation, one that would usher me into battle against my usual opponent: self.

Ever so often, this vision would visit me, in the classroom, at work, my study desk, on my sick bed. And on especially tough days, when I wished I had a chaperone, it showed up even stronger. Over time, it became evident that this imagined figure was not separate from me. It was my sense of self clouding my mind’s eye, yet somehow pushing me to simply get things done.

I say this with the kind of humility my mother, Adwoa Agyapongmaa, taught me: to do hard things – the kind that scares the spirit out of you. The kind that shakes your comfort and brings a quiet pride to those who stand in your corner, and you, my friend! 

Hey Google, define “hard thing”

Well, I say:
Do the things that call for your survival.

The kind that shifts your perspective, creates space for your own path, and enriches your soul in ways comfort never will. Doing the hard thing with the precision of an eagle that does not lose sight of its prey, or like a baby gripping its mother’s hand, seeing no other way but forward. To sit with dangerously knowledgeable people and interrogate their opinions; this is how the mind grows.

To sit with yourself and ask important questions:

• Why do I choose my friends?
• What does my heart truly desire and why?
• Why do I sleep and wake without a vision to hold?
• What patterns surround my life?
• Why do I do the things I do and label some as mere “tendencies”?

Food for thought – an already identified habit graduates and forms part of character. Though I’d like to know, at what point does awareness demand responsibility? We can learn that not all “hard things” are useful. Some struggles are distractions dressed as discipline. Some difficulty is just poor direction, so the question is not just: Are you doing hard things? But: Are you doing the right hard things? – because there is a difference between:

• Growth and exhaustion
• Discipline and self-punishment
• Persistence and avoidance

I truly believe that education, as the penultimate tool, opens you up to different minds and experiences. But education is not just schooling, it is exposure, curiosity, and the willingness to be challenged, and that requires effort.

Push yourself.

And do the right hard thing!