Carry On, Warrior

I haven't written a book review since about 8th grade, but I decided to give it a try since I found Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed to be one of the best books I've read since Unbroken by Laura Hildenbrand.

I picked this book up the other week while babysitting my dear friend Maikke's child.  She has some incredible books in her house, so I thought I would browse this one on top of the stack.  Turns out this book sucks you in - I could not stop reading it - I had to go buy my own copy the very next morning and in a matter of a few hours over the past week I have finished it.

Glennon Melton tells her story with brutal honesty, humor and encourages you to fight this life without armor and weapons, just wholeheartedly and real. As a recovering alcoholic, bulimic and everything in between, Melton recognizes humility, forgiveness, hardship and LIFE - how it is beautiful and brutal all at the same time - Brutiful.  Although I cannot relate to these addictions and her personal struggles, I found myself agreeing with her perspective on life, cried laughing at her trials and tribulations as a parent and saw a bit of light in the dark.

Some of these stories and paragraphs stuck out to me and maybe they will to you too...

1. "If you feel something calling you to dance or write or paint or sing, please refuse to worry about whether you're good enough.  Just do it.  Be generous.  Offer a gift to the world that no one else can offer: yourself."
2. This is for all my friends out there who are moms: You might constantly get told by strangers to enjoy this time with your children, carpe diem, enjoy the most of these moments. Melton is sick of this. Her advice to mothers years from now will be, "It's helluva hard, isn't it? You're a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She's my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours 'til bedtime."
3. "All of us live in some sort of poverty.  Poverty of hope, poverty of peace, poverty of love. We are all poor in one way or another.  Mama T. used to call material poverty the easiest poverty to alleviate."
4. "I do not know Zen. I just know gratitude. I am grateful for the beauty in the midst of suffering. I am grateful for the treasure and hunt through the minefield of life. Dangerous or not, I don't want out of the minefield. Because truth, and beauty, and God are there."
5. "I don't believe in advice. Everybody has the answers right inside her...So, when a friend says, I need some advice, I switch it to, I need some love, and I try to offer that. Offering love usually looks like being quiet, listening hard, and letting my friend talk until she discovers that she already has the answers." 
6. The dentist story: pages 150-154. You will die laughing. 

I plan to follow Melton's motto...

WE CAN DO HARD THINGS.