Change is Good.

In less than a week, Christmas will be here! I've recently been reflecting on my memories of last Christmas... and even last year. So much has changed, and things just keep changing! Some of it is sad, but a lot of it is exciting! For the sake of nostalgia, I figured I should mention just a few of this year's biggest changes...

School- One year ago I was still in High School! High School was such bliss. In High School you have time for friends, you have time for your family (though too many high school kids take this for granted... I know I did.), you have time for a job, you have time for your FEELINGS. College is just a big old busy-fest. To any of those High School kids out there, bored enough to actually read my blog... ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS! I can honestly say that High School has been the best experience of my life so far. Take advantage of it! Be too busy. Be involved! Do everything that you want to do now, because I guarantee that you won't have any time for it in College.

Friends- Even though I'm still friends with many of the people that I was friends with last year, I've gained quite a few! If I can say one good thing about college, it's the fact that it potentially might help you to become closer and better friends with some people that you might not have really even known well in High School.

Family - A year ago... I completely took my family for granted. I'm going to be quite honest with you... I dreaded spending time with them! I had so much time on my hands, and a lot of it was spent at home, but I hated it. Now that I'm so busy, and I hardly get to see them, I cherish EVERY moment that I have with my family. My relationship with my sister has grown SO much over the past year. I even let her hang out with my friends and I. That's something that I would NEVER allow a year ago. I also used to hate helping my dad work on cars, and now it's one of my favorite things! I love spending time with my dad. I love learning things from him, and I truly enjoy all of the time that I get to spend with him! I've also been able to become a lot closer to my mom and grandma over the past year.

These are just three of the MANY things that have changed over the past year. Though I've lost a lot, and I miss the fun things that I used to be able to do, everything that's happened over the past year has made me a better, and more mature person. I really believe that. I'm so happy that I've been able to have the opportunity to go to college, not only because I know that I'm getting a great education, but because it's given me the opportunity to reassess the important things in my life. I've definitely rearranged my priorities over the past year, and that's without a doubt the best thing that's come out of all of this change.

Even though you might not think they're real, rainy days happen. No I'm not talking about days where it's actually raining outside, I'm talking about days that bad things happen unexpectedly.

So for Christmas I've convinced my dad to help me restore an old Yamaha Big Wheel that has been sitting in our back yard for the past ten years. He was going to pay for half of it, as my Christmas present, and I was going to pay for the other half, because it's going to be a spendy craft. Well... my plans kind of went down the drain the other day when BOTH of the front tires on my car went flat. I guess I never really realized it, but you have to replace them about every three years, and it came up quick! I mean, let's get real! Spend money on a car? Besides gas, I've never really had to buy anything, because my dad just has it all! I ended up spending $254 the other day, that was supposed to go into fixing my bike.

Now, I'm not broke... but right now I have a lot less money in my savings account than I'm used to having, and it's KILLING ME! All of those pairs of shoes, and swigs, and lunch dates with my friends are coming back to haunt me. I wish that I would have taken my dad's advice, and saved a lot more money than I have. I'm lucky that my "a-ha" moment wasn't completely financially devastating, because I know that it could have been, but trust me... I'll be saving a lot more than I spend from now on, because rainy days sneak up on you, and more often than not, they don't come with a forecast. 

Your day is only as good as you think it is.

College has helped me realize that positivity is key in life. Through a positive attitude, even the worst day can be made into a great one. Life is all how YOU look at it, people! And that's the truth!

For example; every single time I take a math 1050 test, I feel SO bummed out because "I jsut know I failed that test.", and it literally ruins my whole day. Now... most of the time I'm right (not kidding), but yesterday I tried something different. I went into my math test with a positive attitude. I had
Studied for about six hours (literally) the night before, and even though there were some things that I was worried about remembering, I knew that I had tried my hardest, and that was just going to have to be good enough. Unlike any of my other math tests, I answered every single question, and I'm pretty sute that I answered them right! I truly believe that my positive attitude had all the difference in my performance on that test. The rest of that day just kept on getting better and better.

I remember once in high school, this kid bore his testimony at a seminary Christmas lunchside, and it seemed like the "theme" (If a testimony can have a theme) of his testimony was "There's always someone else who is worse off than you are." If you think about it... this is true! I mean... sure... that friend that stole your ex-boyfriend from 6th grade is a HUGE jerk, but there are KIDS STARVING IN AFRICA! I'm sure you'd take the boyfriend stealing friend over going to bed starving. Oh, and p.s. a lot of them don't have beds to go to either... I bet you do.

and something that goes right along with this theory...

One of the best things you can do to get yourself out of a slump is to SERVE SOMEONE ELSE! Come on! I know you've heard it a thousand times, but have you tried it? Do you believe it? I can honestly tell you that it's true! I don't do it near as often as I should... but it does work! Especially with Thanksgiving coming up in T minus 6 days, it's the perfect time to test out this experiment! I dare you to serve someone else! Whether it be something big like donating money, canned goods, or time to a local shelter, or just doing the dishes for your mother after the Thanksgiving meal!

Hopefully someone, somewhere takes something out of this... and hopefully everyone has the best day ever tomorrow, because your day really is only as good as you think it is. 

-- Pick Two --

I never thought that "furthering my education" would limit me so much. I've always thought that college would be so... liberating, and create amazing experiences and opportunities for me. Though I'm sure that the great experiences and opportunities will start coming after years of hard work and devotion to my schooling, I'm getting worn out NOW!

I was recently stalkin' up the tweets, and I saw a retweet from a kid who said something like...

Pick two:
-Get good grades
-Have a job
-Have a social life


I just sat and thought to myself about how true this really is!

If I don't have a job, I can spend time with my friends and do homework, but I won't have any money.
If I don't do my homework I can spend time with my friends and have a job, but I'll have bad grades.

... now, because I'm way too responsible, I obviously choose the third option...

If I don't spend any time with my friends, I can have a job, and good grades, but I'll be, like, the loneliest person alive.

I know, I know. You're all thinking "wow, this girl is so pathetic; all she does is complain." That's not what I'm doing... (Okay, it is... but...) The point that I'm trying to prove is the fact that I have so much faith that by going to college, and keeping a job so that I have money to go to college, my life will be so much better in the future. I think it's amazing that so many people DO have this much faith, because college is hard! It would be so easy to just graduate high school, and start working a minimum wage job, and live with your parents until you get married. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, because for some people, that's the smartest way to go! But what I am saying is that I really look up to anyone who has the ability to choose the college path, and sticks it out till the end, because I'm just now realizing how difficult it is.

Kudos to every alumni from every college everywhere. The sacrifices that all of you have made for an education has driven me to want the same.

Blessings; see them for what they are, not what you wanted them to be.

-COLLEGE-

Over the past few months, this has been an extremely touchy subject in my life. I've been bitter about not being able to go where I thought I should have gone. I've been jealous of all of my friends whose lives seem to be progressing, while mine is still on pause. I've been selfish. 

I haven't taken five minutes to step back and realize how lucky I really am. I've been focusing and dwelling on where I thought my life should be right now, when my life is exactly where it should be. 

 

-
Tonight I got the chance to go visit my best friend in the whole wide world at her new dorm in Cedar. I won't lie to anyone... I've been jealous of her too. Mostly jealous of all of her fun room mates, but her as well. Seeing her tonight gave me the opportunity to see and realize that even though we've both taken different paths, we're both going the right direction for us. I also realized that even though we don't get to see each other as much as we used to, we'll always be as close as we were when we did. I think that by taking that 30 minute drive tonight, I gave myself the closure I needed to move on and stop being jealous of something that wasn't meant for me. 

-

I'm so blessed to be able to stay at home. I'm blessed because I'm getting an education for free. I'm living at home for free. I get to see my family every single day, which is something that I'm sure a lot of freshman in college wish they had. I get to see some of my closest high school friends multiple times a week. 

There are so many blessings that I've over looked, because I've been sitting here, bitter about what I didn't get. My life was on pause because I pushed the button.

-GROWING UP-

I think that one of the things that bothered me the most about not being able to move away for college, is the fact that everyone around me was telling me that it's the only way to "grow up". Since my Junior year of high school, it's been shoved down my throat that the only way to grow up, was to get out of town. THIS IS SO NOT TRUE! 

::ATTENTION HIGH SCHOOL KIDS::

You do not have to get out of town to"grow up". Growing up is something that comes with time, and it doesn't matter where you are. Growing up is about taking responsibility for yourself, and learning how to do things by yourself. Well... I've been doing this for the past four years! Just because I'm nineteen years old, and I still live with my parents while I'm going to school, doesn't mean that I'm not growing up. If anything, it means that I have grown up, because I saw a great opportunity to save money, and go to a good school, and I took it.

Growing up doesn't depend on location; it depends on mind set. 

::ALSO:: 

Don't tear the blessings that others receive down, to uplift yours. Everyone receives different blessings and circumstances for different reasons. It's not up to anyone to judge another person's situation, especially to make theirs look better. 

BE HAPPY FOR PEOPLE.

One of the stupidest things that I've done this year is be jealous of others. It has only made me feel bad about myself, and made me resent the other person. If someone gets exactly what they want, then you should be nothing but happy for them! Jealousy does nothing but hold other blessings back from you. Being jealous of someone else hurts no one but you.

Okay everyone, now it's up to you. If you're feeling bad about yourself, and you're constantly jealous of others, re-evaluate your life. Look for those hidden blessings that I know all off us have. You'll never be able to be happy for others if  you're not happy for yourself first.

Change your outlook on life, and it will change your life. 

p.s. another hidden blessing in my life... my computer shut itself down before I got to publish this post, but somehow, it was saved. The Lord looks out for everyone! What matters to you, matters to him.

Hey, you. GET OVER IT!

Why do us girls feel the need to linger on every little thing that other girls do, or say that offend them? Why do we let the small, unimportant stuff ruin our lifelong friendships? Why can't we just get over it and move on?

::NEWSFLASH::
Let's Get Real.

Why can't we just all be happy, and nice to each other? There is nothing more destructive to a friendship than lingering on something that doesn't really matter. If people brushed more of the unimportant stuff off, there would be half as many problems in the world today; I swear by it!

I can't tell you that I haven't ever done this, because I totally have! It just took me until now to realize that not just letting some things go, is one of the stupidest things that someone can do....

So, in 8th grade I had this friend. We were BEST friends. We used to do everything together, and we used to have so much fun. I liked this boy, and my best friend knew it, but she started to "go out" with him anyways. No one told me. I found out about a week later, and as soon as I found out, all heck broke loose! I wouldn't talk to her, I wouldn't hang out with her, and I wouldn't forgive her.

Even though my friend did a really, really crappy thing to me, it's my fault that we weren't friends after it happened. I could have chosen to forgive and forget, and not let a stupid BOY get between us, but I did, and because I did, I lost a really great friend. Now, we both had really great friends in high school, and we were cordial to each other, but we missed out on so many memories because I wouldn't just let it go.

::ON THE OTHER HAND::
Why are girls so mean to each other? We know how it feels to be judged. We know how it feels to be disliked, so why do we put that upon other people when we know how badly it hurts? Again, I can't say that I haven't done this either, though I can't think of a specific instance, but I hate that it happens. It's unfair to everyone in the situation. NO ONE feels good about it in the long run; and for the person who is putting this undeserved hatred onto another person, you might feel powerful now, but in the long run, Karma will come back to get you, and I know that to be true.

Everyone, it's just not worth it. Lingering on stupid things like "who got the boy" or something that someone said without thinking, just isn't worth it. The best way to deal with a situation like this is to simply, get over it, forgive, forget, and move on.
also,
Be nice whenever possible, and it's ALWAYS possible. 

"The Savior made a clear connection between being forgiven of our sins and forgiving others who have wronged us. Sometimes the wrongs others have done to us are very, very painful and very hard to either forgive or forget. I am so grateful for the comfort and healing I have found in the Lord’s invitation to let go of our hurts and turn them over to Him. In Doctrine and Covenants, section 64, He said: “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. And ye ought to say . . . let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds” (D&C 64:10-11). Then we must drop the matter completely, letting the Lord take it from there, if we desire to be healed." Elder J. Devn Cornish