Joanna Hardis, LISW, LLC

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Joanna Hardis, LISW, LLC

Joanna Hardis, LISW-S, is a licensed therapist, author and speaker who helps people do hard things.

Her second book, “Just Do Nothing (for Parents): How to Parent Better by Doing Less,” guides parents on building distress tolerance.

03/06/2026

This is the part people forget.

You will think “I can’t do this” more than once.

The repetition can make it feel significant, but it isn’t. If you've told yourself you can't, your brain will bring it back. Brains are prediction machines.

The goal is not to eliminate the thought, it's to stop treating it like a fact and focus on the action.

Pay less attention to your thoughts and feelings and more to what matters.

That is Just Do Nothing™.

03/04/2026

Taking care of a sick dog (or person) will test your distress tolerance fast.

When stress is high, everything in your head feels like a problem to solve right now.

You want certainty, reassurance, or to do something to "fix it" but that just leads to more doing. In these moments, what I needed to do was the opposite.

These are the times I remind myself to Just Do Nothing™.

This last month has been such a powerful reminder: most of my thoughts and feelings do not deserve action. 🐾❤️‍🩹

03/03/2026

Sometimes the hardest part isn’t missing the event, it’s the story you tell yourself afterward.

“I should have been there.”
“They’ll remember this.”
“Good parents don’t miss games.”

The guilt can get real loud.

Before you let it run the show, however, try to PAUSE.

Not to eliminate the discomfort (that’ll make it louder) but to function with it as you carry on with your day.

There will be times when you wanted to make the event but you couldn’t, and that’s hard.

In these situations, the goal is not to make an already difficult situation worse by intensifying the guilt, shame, or worry.

Learning how to Just Do Nothing™ with our thoughts and feelings helps us do just that.

02/26/2026

We say we want our kids to handle hard things, but how good are you at modeling this? When they’re upset, how often do you rush in to make it better?

Hard truth: Telling kids to "Do as I say, not as I do" doesn't work. If we want our kids to be able to tolerate distress, we have to be able to do it ourselves.

That means we’ve got to build our own capacity first. Not just know what to do, but practice it, model it, live it.

Yes, it’s hard. That’s why I wrote Just Do Nothing (for Parents): How to Parent Better by Doing Less. Get your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Just-Do-Nothing-Parents-Parent/dp/B0FV3Q1CSV/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=186694602175&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TpDwdGHYAH2sytusLzTUZYo9Wf_VBMfDW_adriUtfZhXslhi3cmpbUTNyZah9VZRnjsHXshMQDg7qr3Dw84L6FD8gLha8pgl9vv7t55ozlUibAB91Q8N-j_Th4s475jsATLxEHxX3qX4mtcX0fx30Vm5bx_Px5rzNQGquMyeiFpKEnR6g9HjZ_bex04cnAbClkEJWMxRsM61NCexVXujOVP5dXQjBnfq4YFWU7CWQUo.kU_EKJHJ9BrVYltvcKxqX6t7Q7lYdi_dX0bLOQSfjn4&dib_tag=se&hvadid=779578903387&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9007374&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=16061565774535719021--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16061565774535719021&hvtargid=kwd-2449620034313&hydadcr=8927_13572557_37416&keywords=just+do+nothing+for+parents&mcid=1239d623b2fb3700955e650990abf8e4&qid=1771943779&sr=8-1 📚

02/24/2026

We have normalized crowdsourcing our emotional reactions.

A text happens.
A fight happens.
A disappointment happens.

And instead of allowing with the discomfort, we outsource it.

“Am I overreacting?”
“Who is right?”
“Tell me what this means.”

Reassurance may feel good in the moment, but it’s a temporary fix.

If you want lasting relief, you need to learn to accept and allow your feelings…even the uncomfortable ones you want to avoid by trying to get rid of them.

That is what Just Do Nothing™️ is for.

Instead of trying to make uncomfortable moments more comfortable (which doesn’t work long term), it teaches you how to get more comfortable with discomfort.

02/19/2026

I love this analogy so much, I put it in my first book.

What if we treated emotions like hunger?

Not just fear, any uncomfortable emotion. Doubt. Shame. Uncertainty. Guilt. Embarrassment. Vulnerability.

They’re sensations in the body, not emergencies.
Not calls to immediate action.
Not problems to fix right now.

You don’t drop everything every time you feel a little hungry.

Same goes here.

Give it a try.

02/17/2026

“Let them.”

It’s a compelling idea, but it skips over one VERY critical piece👇🏻

What do we do with the storm of feelings that show up when we let them?

That’s where you’re going to need to know how to Just Do Nothing™️ with the stuff in your head.

It takes skills and lots of practice to let the wave of discomfort rise, peak, and pass.

Letting them is a concept. Just Do Nothing™️ is the skill that makes it possible.

02/12/2026

You don’t have to solve the riddle of the Sphinx: Just Do Nothing.

The beauty of Just Do Nothing™️. It works wherever you take it.

Home, work, carpool line, boardroom, Egypt. ⚱️🐫🛕

Thank you for the most incredible trip and great caption. You rock.

02/10/2026

🗣 Emotions and feelings are information, not facts or immediate calls to action.

Valentine’s Day has a way of turning emotions up and, when that happens, it's easy to assume your thoughts are true.

You heighten your expectations, find yourself making more comparisons, and disappointment feels more personal.

When that happens, it is easy to assume something is wrong. With your partner. With your relationship. With you.

Often, it is just a spike.

Let's treat Valentine's Day as a day to practice noticing and allowing a range of feelings without reacting to them. Just get curious about them as you take them with you today. 💘💌🌹

02/06/2026

Most people try to change in “level 10” moments. Big emotions, high stakes, lots of pressure. 🎆

But lasting change is built in the small discomforts you feel every day.

Maybe it’s a text you want to answer immediately, or the urge you have to lift your kid’s bad mood.

Those are your 4-6 pound weights. 🏋️‍♀️

If you can practice Just Do Nothing™️ there, you build the capacity to stay steady when it actually matters.

Pick one level 4-5 moment today and treat it like a rep. Not a test, just practice. 💪🏼

02/04/2026

When you’re worried you may have upset or offended someone, the urge to fix it right now can be so strong.

The urge to seek reassurance, replay the situation over and over, compulsively apologize can all be behaviors to to fix the feeling and mitigate the distress.

This is where it can be helpful to PAUSE. ⏸️

Not to act or react, but to wait long enough to choose what comes next.

This is what it looks like to Just Do Nothing™️ in practice.

01/29/2026

Just Do Nothing™ isn’t about inaction, it’s about intention.

It’s choosing not to react on autopilot. It’s noticing the urgency… and not obeying it. You don’t have to prove, fix, or escape right away.

You can pause.
You can wait.
You can choose to not respond to the urge.
You can choose to be uncomfortable and let the feelings pass.

Which one of these moments feels most familiar to you?

Address

2460 Fairmount Boulevard Suite 320
Cleveland Heights, OH
44106

Telephone

+12166008696

Website

http://joannahardis.com/

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