Could You Do It?

I live a pretty comfortable life. Sure I stress about money now and then or my job but really, compared to so many other people in the world, what do I have to complain about? I have shoes to wear on my feet, I have a roof over my head and I have family and friends who love and support me. In fact, for the most part, I have more than I need.

In 10 Days Without: Daring Adventures in Discomfort That Will Change Your World and You, Daniel Ryan Day shares his experiences and insights from his experiments going without items for (you guessed it) ten days. Day did several of these ten days challenges, each one addressing a different issue. From ten days without shoes to address disease or without a coat to address homelessness to going without furniture to address poverty and without legs to address disabilities, the author’s experiences are touching. Some of his experiments didn’t turn out quite like he hoped they would but they always left an impression.

I loved Day’s story of going without a coat for ten days, even though he admits it was the most discouraging of all of his challenges. He had a goal of collecting 5,000 coats for the homeless community in the middle of winter in Colorado and fell way short of that goal. But he did make a difference. He made a difference to those people who did receive one of those 100 coats he managed to collect. He made a difference to the homeless man he took to dinner one night. He says, “So maybe instead to trying to change the world, we need to focus on changing someone’s world.” I love that!!

And while I may not be able to go ten days without something, after reading 10 Days Without, I have a better understanding of things that I can do to help, organizations I can contact to volunteer with and even ways to just help others who are struggling every day. This book was eye-opening and worth the read.

****Waterbrook Multnomah Press provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I was not compensated in any way for either a positive or negative review.