The Update: Finding My Meaning and Fulfillment

Work started up again yesterday, and now I am back into the full swing of things! While I did enjoy having almost three weeks to myself, I am a definitely a girl who loves structure. Clearly, my goal to blog every day did not happen, but I did blog more than normal. I also struggled to meet some of my other goals, but I came out with a list of things that fulfill me and add meaning to my life, which was the main point. All in all, I'd consider my "project" to be a success. Here's how it all shaped out.

- Aim for 30 minutes of gospel study each day. This didn't quite happen. I still made time for the gospel every day, but most of the time it wasn't for 30 minutes. I still had some great experiences though.

- Answer one list of getting to know me questions every day. I did enjoy this at first, but then it became a chore, so I dropped it. Oh well. 

- Learn something new. I had planned to get on Skillshare. That did eventually happen, but not until Monday. Success? You decide. Or don't, because you know, this is my project after all.

- Blog every day. We've already established this wasn't something I did very good at. I am still trying to figure out what I want to do as far as blogging is concerned.

- Spend time doing things I enjoy. I think I definitely did that. I went on a road trip that involved camping and hiking and two national/state parks. I read, I watched Gilmore Girls, I exercised. I think all of those things definitely qualify.

- Read one new book. Sadly, this did not happen. I'm still looking for any recommendations you may have though!

- Improve my athletic training knowledge. This didn't happen the way I planned, but with school starting again, I've found myself working on a new certification. Definitely counts. 

- Embrace my likes and dislikes. Done!

I've thought a lot about where I am in life and who I am and what I am like. I have to say, I am happy to be me. I'm proud of who I am and where I've gotten, and I feel so blessed to be me. I know that there are people out there who may not be able to say that about themselves, which makes me all the more grateful for that self-confidence (for lack of a better word). 

I was able to come up with a small list of things that bring fulfillment and meaning into my life:

1. The gospel of Jesus Christ + feeling the Holy Ghost

2. Being physically active

3. Being creative.

4. Spending time with other people (which sounds a little funny, coming from a solid introvert)

5. Reading

6. Being productive

Here's to living MY best life. 

Also, a couple of things I'm loving lately, for my/your enjoyment. 

The new journaling edition of the Book of Mormon from Line Upon Line. I just got my beautiful book yesterday, and I can't wait to read it!

I also found (thanks to Line Upon Line) a gorgeous General Conference study guide from Work and Wonder. This workbook/study guide is geared specifically toward this coming October 2018 General Conference. I just ordered it yesterday, and I am so excited for it to come!

I get the occasional email from Bloglovin', highlighting different blog posts from around the web. I tend not to read them very quickly, leaving them to pile up in my inbox until I dedicate some time to reading the ones that catch my eye. I'm not really spending money right now (besides the general conference workbook), but if I did, you can bet I'd be buying one of these bags. I might have a small bag/purse obsession.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy hump day!

Life Experiences: Buying a Car

Yesterday I took took a giant step into real adulthood and bought a car! I'm still amazed at how quickly it happened - I applied for a loan and found the car all in the same day. Before I bought it, I struggled to understand the process of actually buying a used car. There have been several moments in my life where the process seems too lengthy or too much out of my comfort zone (like getting my driver's license, applying to the athletic training program, going to grad school) and I wonder if I'll ever actually do it. This was one of those moments, but the process ended up being much easier than I thought! 

Buying a car was actually a bit of a confidence boost for me. I was able to prove to myself yet again that I can do hard things (buying a car may not actually be all that difficult, but it sure seemed like it beforehand). I learned that there are always people there to help you out, people who know much more than I do. I couldn't have done it without both of my parents and the people at the bank (whom I called or visited three times yesterday to get everything figured out); plus the sweet lady I worked with at the DMV was just the icing on the cake. She was seriously so sweet and made me feel even more confident and like I've got life figured out (which I don't, I promise). 

This car buying process actually ties in quite nicely to my thoughts from Sister Joy D. Jones' BYU Education Week devotional. She talked a lot about enticements and how we react to them. We must act rather than react, as we've all heard before. I walked away from the devotional struck by two thoughts:

Every experience is an opportunity for spiritual growth.

My life depends largely on my perspective.

I loved loved loved her talk. I'm still trying to figure out how to find spiritual growth in every experience, but I believe her completely that we have constant opportunities to grow spiritually. If I stop and think about this car buying experience, I have learned that God is always looking out for us (being able to buy this car was a definite tender mercy. Everything fell into place so perfectly). He answers our prayers not just with feelings but with life circumstances and experiences. He places people in our path to guide us and teach us along the way.

I think that if I can work on both learning how to spiritually progress from seemingly ordinary/non-spiritual experiences and shift my perspective to a more eternal/grand-scheme-of-things one, I will be well on my way toward a more meaningful and fulfilled life.

Happy Thursday!

Farmers' Markets

It's been a pretty quiet day around here. My roommate and I are in the process of moving (shout out to having family living close by that are willing to help out), so that's consumed most of our day. We like to add a little excitement to our lives, though, so we've started going to the local farmers' market!

If you live around Provo, the farmers' market on Center Street is the best. One of my favorite things in life is street markets (which is probably why I loved Argentina and Chile so much), and Provo definitely delivers. The staples are there, of course; you can't have a farmers' market without fresh produce and homemade goodies! Several local artisans and a few businesses like to set up shop there as well and it just makes my heart so happy. So far I've bought ebelskivers (Danish pancakes that are nothing like our pancakes), fresh peaches (yum!), and cinnamon & sugar pita chips. It's become a Saturday morning tradition. I highly recommend stopping by. 

I'm not saying that going to a farmers' market is what brings meaning and fulfillment to my life, but in a way I am. Farmers' markets are something I really enjoy. Part of my project includes embracing myself and doing things that I love, both of which are very fulfilling and bring joy to my life. Even though today was very practical and there were things I had to get done, I still took the time to do something for me. So, I'd say that day three was a success! 

More Than I Bargained For

Here we are, day 2, and I already tried something new and way outside of my comfort zone.

Today is my dad's birthday. He loves donating platelets and he's always after the rest of our family to give blood. My stake just happened to be having a blood drive today, so I decided to donate blood for the first time as my birthday gift to him. Oh, what an adventure we had.

Before I get into the story, I'd like to share a few things I learned from the experience. 1. Eating a full meal before donating is very important. 2. Drinking water and being well hydrated before donating is very important. 3. Don't turn down the Red Cross workers when they offer you snacks and drinks.

Based on those three things, you can probably guess what happened today. No, I didn't pass out, but I came very, very close. The needle was much bigger than I was expecting (anyone who tells you that donating blood is similar to having your blood drawn is lying) and of course I made the mistake of watching it go in (because I had been told donating blood = blood draw and I'm totally fine with having my blood drawn). I got a strong head rush as soon as that needle slid into my vein. I got nauseous after a minute or two, then very nauseous. They had to lay me down and give me cool, wet cloths to put on my forehead and neck. I was so hot and clammy and sweaty and I couldn't wait for it to be over. 

Angels do exist, my friends, and some of them exist in the form of the Red Cross phlebotomists. I was so blessed to have the cutest phlebotomist at my side pretty soon after I got really nauseous. She talked to me so that I wouldn't pass out and got me juice and pretzels and she was just so sweet. Bless her, bless her, bless her. My poor dad was in the middle of a meeting over the phone (he arranged it so he could come with me to the donation appointment) and was trying to help me out while paying attention to the meeting. Nevertheless, I'm so glad he came with me.

I made it through giving a whole pint of blood. There was no way I was going to end the donation early if it meant that they couldn't use my blood (I didn't know that was a thing either until today), so I stuck it out. I'm so glad I did, but mostly I'm so, so glad it's over so that I never have to do it again. (Never say never, of course, but those are my current feelings about donating blood.)

There is photographic proof that I donated, but for now I don't think the internet needs to see me in all of my white-as-a-sheet, I-look-like-a-corpse glory. Maybe if you ask really nicely I might think about showing it to you. Unless, of course, you get to my dad first. 

Happy birthday, dad. Thanks for pushing me to do something totally outside of my comfort zone that might actually help to save lives. You're pretty great, and I'm so blessed to have you as my dad.

Finding My Meaning and Fulfillment

Today is the first day of my two day summer break. 

What?

I consider today and tomorrow to be my actual summer break since those are the only two days this summer that I'm both school and work free. I was in school from mid-May to the beginning of August, and I start back up again on Monday. The training room officially closed yesterday and will stay that way until BYU starts up again (after Labor Day). So there you go: August 16 and 17 are my real summer break. 

I still consider the 19 days that I have off of work to be my summer break though, since my class load is pretty light this semester. I decided that since I basically have 19 free days I need to make them count. Lately I've thought a lot about living a meaningful/fulfilling life and how to do that. Starting today, I'm taking advantage of my break to spend some time getting to know myself, a "project" that I'm calling Getting to Know Me: Finding My Meaning and Fulfillment. I want to get to know myself better on both deep and superficial levels, taking time to figure out what makes me happy and what fulfills me. 

To do that, I've come up with a list of several things that I would like to do throughout the next 2.5ish weeks. As I made this list last night, I began to feel a little overwhelmed/stuck as far as what I was asking myself to do. So, I set a rule: if I don't do something or don't want to do something, it's perfectly okay. This "project" is about me and what I need and want, so I'm not going to try to worry about meeting specific goals. It's a time of experimentation and following my feelings, and I'm pretty excited about it. 

Getting to Know Me: Finding My Meaning and Fulfillment

Aim for 30 minutes of gospel study each day. I definitely feel better about myself and about life when I have the Holy Ghost with me. It can be difficult for me to maintain that throughout the day, so I'm trying to spend more time in the scriptures/General Conference talks to improve my spiritual health and fulfillment.

Answer one list of getting to know me questions every day. There are tons of lists of these on Pinterest that I've saved, so I'm excited to finally use them and dig a little deeper.

Learn something new - maybe even get on Skillshare? I love reading the blog Wit and Delight, and it's motivated me to be more creative. I like to think I'm a creative person, so for this project I want to hone in on that a little more.

Blog every day. I also really enjoy writing and it's something I want to do more of. I have also had many internal debates about what I want to do with my blog; my hope with this goal is to finally make a decision.

Spend time doing things I enjoy.

Read one new book. Hit me with any suggestions you have! I'm not a huge sci-fi/fantasy reader, but I love contemporary novels, historical fiction, Christian romance (yes, that's an actual genre!), and self-help. 

Improve my athletic training knowledge. 

Embrace my likes and dislikes; don't be embarrassed about them or brush them aside!

--------------------

I kicked today off by letting myself stay in bed longer, baking peach scones (with my new Kitchenaid!), and indulging in some Friends and a good book.

You'll be hearing a lot more from me for the next few weeks. I'll probably share these blog posts on Facebook and/or Instagram, but you know where to find me if I don't!

If you have any suggestions or thoughts about this little project of mine, or about finding meaning and fulfillment in your own life, I'd love to hear it!

Happy Thursday!

Mountains vs. Beaches

I think if I had to choose between living by the mountains or living by the beach, I would choose the mountains. (I know. Most of you are probably gasping right now, but it's true.) I love the green and the feeling of separation from the world. More people tend to flock to the beach than the mountains, I think. I'm sure that I'm swayed because I've lived in Utah my whole life and there's kiiind of a shortage of beaches around here. 

I do really enjoy the beach though. For the most part anyway. I can't say I'm a huge fan of getting sand all over the place, but I do generally enjoy a trip to the beach. Basically, this is a really long, roundabout way of saying that last month I went to Hawaii for the first time.

Guys, I'm totally sold on the fresh fruit and the mostly consistent warm weather and the wide variety of activities. Because I stayed home for a few days after my family left so that I could go to class, I only ended up being there for about 4.5-5ish days. It was still a pretty great 5 days though (and my sleep schedule still has not recovered from it).

We stayed at an Airbnb in a little town called Naalehu on the island of Hawai'i (also sold on the Airbnb after this trip - having a house to come back to every night was SO nice). Here's some of the highlights from things we did/saw on this trip:

--black sand beach + a sea turtle--

--watching the sunset & stargazing on Mauna Kea--

--hiking through a crater at Volcanoes National Park--

--swimming in the ocean--
*there was a sea turtle swimming right by us (!!!), but unfortunately, getting a good picture was impossible*

--waterfalls on the rainforest side of the island--

This waterfall is called Rainbow Falls. It's really faint, but I managed to get a picture of the rainbow.

I've also included some of my favorite pictures from the trip. I took so many, and I was really happy with how a lot of them turned out!

Did I mention how much I love the green? I didn't anticipate seeing so much greenery in Hawai'i, but it was beautiful and absolutely perfect.

10/10 would recommend vacationing in Hawai'i. Even if you like the mountains.

2017 Highlights in Pictures

Well, I haven't been posting as much as I planned, but I'm here today, so that's something. Since today is December 31, 2017, I'm just going to do highlights from 2017 in pictures, as the title suggests. 2017 was a big year for me. I accomplished a lot of my goals and I grew a lot as a person (in my opinion). This post is going to be pretty long, but I love all of these pictures, so bear with me or go ahead and click that little red x. We'll still be friends, I promise. 

 

You made it to the end! Happy New Year!