“My dear Frodo!” exclaimed Gandalf. “Hobbits really are amazing creatures, as I have said before. You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you at a pinch.”
That’s a line from The Lord of the Rings – the book and the movie.
It complements some stuff Tolkien wrote about hobbits nicely – about how all their indulgence gives them this incredible fortitude.
Yeah, Bilbo struggled.
Yeah, Frodo and Sam struggled.
But they kept going. After a lifetime of lying around, eating six meals a day and smoking, they went on a gruelling physical and mental challenge.
They became heroes – not just among their own people, but all free people.
Keep that in mind if you feel unworthy of the challenges ahead.
No one knows what’s on the horizon. Civilisation could collapse. It could slide into any number of dystopias. Even if everything stays peachy dory, your life will have challenges in it.
And you might not feel ready for it. After all, you’ve spent the last few decades falling short of the examples set by your ancestors.
They were either warriors who knew how to live of the land, or farmers who knew how to defend their lands.
Few of us could do either, let alone both.
With police and supermarkets, we’re pampered and indulgent. Compared to our ancestors, we’re as slovenly as hobbits.
That’s okay.
Maybe we’re as resilient as hobbits too.
Maybe when, when we need to, we can dig deep, cross the lands, make the hard choices and defeat evil.
I don’t know.
But if you’re like me, you want to stack the odds.
I’d start with reading, rereading and applying Your Story Isn’t About You.
To see why I’d choose that before farming, combat training and beekeeping, go here: