2016 - Faith, Hope, and Maybe I'm Psychic?

Ok, I know I'm not actually psychic, but I have noticed a huge trend in the last two years in that whatever I choose as my motto, the biggest challenges and experiences I face throughout the year are inseparably connected to that motto.

Last year, I chose "Have courage and be kind," and I'm here to tell you that I had to cling to that motto like no tomorrow, as I was faced with some really difficult situations that year in which I really needed bravery and benevolence.

This year the trend continued.

You may recall that my very first post of this year declared that my motto for 2016 was:

Have Faith

Have Hope

And this year, my faith has been tested beyond anything it ever has before, and hope became a dying flame that only barely kept burning.

I have faced plenty of challenges before in my life; we all have trials that we go through.

But this year felt like I had about twenty all at once. And some of them seemed to weigh one thousand pounds.

And there were lots of moments when I just wanted to give up,

when it didn't seem worth it to fight or to try,

when hope and faith seemed all but lost

and heaven felt far away.

But ultimately, I clung to the faith and hope I had left, and I emerged victorious.

This year, I:

Celebrated as tons of friends and family members got married 

(this collage is just a fraction)

Watched my little dancers perform and gained a deeper place in the DLA family

Competed on an intramural inner tube water polo team

Saw a beautiful new temple be dedicated

Had the best FHE group ever

Started doing Body Confidence Workshops

Got to be a princess a few times

Made a lava monster in the backyard

Mud wrestled

Welcomed home my sister after 18 months on a mission

Went through the house of the Lord for the first time

Chopped my hair
(twice! - new 'do to premiere on insta Jan 1st!)

Saw Josh Turner live (insert heart eyes here)

Visited the best state in the US

Had the best mother-daughter-road-trip-jam-out ever

Learned three new styles of dance

Went to the happiest place on earth and got the cutest autographs ever

Totally rocked an awesome Halloween costume

Put clothes on chickens

Lit the world with some warm clothing and a little love

Fell in love with Newt Scamander

Worked through some intense health issues

Was thrown into uncertainty but chose to have faith

2016 was probably my most eventful and crazy year yet.

And I can't wait to see what's in store for me next.

No matter what it is, I will have hope.

What Do A Stable, A Stage, and Your Bedroom Have In Common?

We all know the song O Holy Night, which describes that incredible sacred night when our Savior Jesus Christ was born.

But what if I told you that you could find just as holy of a night this week?

Without a doubt, I have had some incredible spiritual experiences at places like church or the temple or at a display of art featuring Christ.

But I've also had holy nights spent driving home, or in my bed, or performing onstage.

Your connection to the Savior has nothing to do with your physical location.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year to celebrate our Savior and be reminded of the humble beginnings of He who not only died for us but lived for us.

But I truly believe that the Christmas spirit, or in other words, the spirit of Christ, can be found any time of the year, in any place where we invite it to enter into our hearts.

I made this video to help illustrate this point, that even in a night of homework, a dance performance, or after a party based in Rudolph and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, we can rediscover that spirit of Christ and create our own Holy Night.

Feel free to share and help remind others that the peace of their Savior is never far away.

You Should Set the Rule Book on Fire

Girls need to be shorter than the guys they're with.

A real man can grow a beard.

You have to be delicate to be feminine.

Girls should be petite but curvy.
The bigger the muscles, the cuter the guy.

Whether we deliberately say these things, hint at or joke about them, or carry them in our subconscious,

Everyone has a Rule Book that tells you how you and those around you should look and act.

Now, I'm not one to condone arson, but for goodness' sake,

SET THAT STUFF ON FIRE.

Have you ever stopped to consider the logic behind what we as a society deem the ideal man or woman?

If you can explain to me how washboard abs make you a better father,

or how bigger breasts allow you to be more kind to others,

or how a tiny waist gives you a greater thirst for knowledge,

go ahead and try.

But I'm pretty sure you're gonna come up empty-handed.

There is not a wrong way to have a body.

There is not an ideal way to be.

There is not a standard of appearance you have to meet.

I love these!

This same principle applies to every other rule in that Rule Book that is hopefully charring in your fireplace by now.

The rules are all in your head.

They don't actually exist.

"Attractive" is not one thing.

Everyone is attractive and beautiful just how they are.

I'm not saying that everyone is magically going to be able to look at everyone perfectly equally, without any regard to appearance. 

I catch myself making instant judgments or stopping myself from something because of "the rules," and I'm sure you will too.

But the point is to take a step back and remind yourself that the rules are all in your head.

With practice, hopefully they won't even be there anymore.

So dear Rule Book,

The Spiderman Principle

Since most of us have had THREE different incarnations of Spiderman in our lifetime, I'm sure we're all very familiar with the web-slinger's mantra:

Now, most of us won't be bitten by radioactive spiders and get the kind of powers that Peter Parker did, but there is still a truth in this well-quoted phrase that we can each apply in our lives.

Take a look at this similar concept found in Doctrine and Covenants 82:3:

You might not have superpowers,

but you do have much.

You have much to use and much to give.

This time of year is one that begs us to look at our lives and be thankful for what we have, to recognize the joy and blessings that fill our every day and do all we can to give to those who aren't as fortunate.

I recently saw this video on Facebook, made by the Forest Hill Waxhaw Church, and I think it really helps illustrate the point that

we are blessed with so much more than we realize.

Watch the video here!

With so much, how can we not be giving this holiday season?

How can we not step up to the plate and make this world a little better?

How can we not use our blessings and talents and strengths to bless the lives of others?

It's your turn to be a superhero:

Get out there and give!

Light the World - Worldwide Day of Service

Yesterday was the first of 25 days of service as promoted by mormon.org's #LighttheWorld Christmas initiative and, as I announced 2 and a half  weeks ago, I spent part of it distributing care packages, coats, and winter wear to the homeless alongside some good friends.

I was overwhelmed with the support I received.

With the combined efforts of many, we collected

3 dozen coats and jackets

25 blankets

bags and bags of warm accessories

and $90 that helped pay for 11 care packages.

 

We only had a couple of hours to drive around, but even with the three people we were able to give to, I saw one major connecting factor:

Each person we gave to expressed concern at there being enough for others.

Each wanted to make sure they didn't take too much or only took what they needed, even though there was more than enough to go around.

The Christmas season encourages us to be selfless, to be giving, to serve.

I set out yesterday intending to do just that, but really I learned how. I saw for myself what humility, kindness, and unselfishness truly looks like.

May we all do our best to be as giving and selfless as we can this Christmas season.

Visit www.mormon.org for a different idea of service for each day in December - serve 25 ways over 25 days!

What's Your Spirit Animal?

This would sometimes come up in conversation with my friends (you might be surprised how often), and I would never have an answer. I didn't know what my 'spirit animal' was, or how to find out.

Recently, I decided to sit down and actually do some thinking to figure it out.

And I finally found the perfect animal:

I'm an Octopus.

It's not one of those animals that would probably be an option in a BuzzFeed quiz or something, but I think it fits me perfectly.

1) Sometimes I do the whole invisible thing and try to blend in with my surroundings, other times I panic and escape (although I've never thrown ink on someone before), and other times I let myself glow and be colorful for all to see.

2) I am the queen of attempting to do multiple (possibly even eight) things at once. Honestly, it's so so hard for me to just sit and do one thing. I often will even try and find something to do while I brush my teeth.

3) Lots of arms for hugging!!

4) I like being all packed tight and squished in. Not like pressed against a wall in a sweaty crowd of people, but tucked into a corner surrounded by cushions and pillows and blankets, heck yeah! 

5) Weird (but like a good weird) :)

After I found my spirit animal, I thought it might be fun to try and find some for my friends. I put out a casual offer on Facebook and got THIRTY replies!

I'm not going to feature all 30, but here are some of them and a quick blurb on why I chose them:

Chris - Llama

Willingly bears burdens for others, warm, basically is Kuzco

Errika - Blue Whale

Deep soul, belongs in the water, gentle

Rachel - Ring-tailed Lemur

Boss (their packs have female dominance), acrobatic/athletic, lots of fun

Sarah - Golden Pheasant

Colorful/full of life, beautiful, one-of-a-kind

Dad - Emperor Penguin

Involved father, goofy but dignified, withstands harsh conditions

Mom - Grizzly Bear

Fiercely protective of kids, knows how to get stuff done and how to relax, warm

Annika - Mountain Goat

Wanderlust, adventurous spirit, gentle but daring

Mike - Red Panda

Warm, bright, and rare

Brianne - Magpie

Striking/artistic, free spirit, sometimes mischievous/a troublemaker ;)

Now, what do spirit animals have to do with a confidence-oriented blog?

Look at these:

In addition to these, other friends' animals were otter, zebra, barn owl, snow leopard, collie, heron, dove, elephant, hyena, swan, cheetah, hummingbird, flamingo, and more.

These animals are vastly different from one another. 

In appearance, in behavior, in everything.

But they are all wonderful.

They each have a key role in the animal kingdom.

Don't waste your time comparing yourself to an eagle if you are a dolphin.

You will never be an eagle, nor were you ever meant to be.

You have your own strengths, your own beauty, your own difference that you can make.

So stop comparing, and start appreciating what you can do and who you are.

Dear Future Husband, Please Don't Love Me Most

Dear Future Husband,

I want you to love me.

And I don't mean love like a feeling; I mean love like the actions every day, the little things that add up to so much more.

I want you to love me.

But I don't want you to love me most.

I don't want to be the most important person in your life.

I don't want you to talk to me more than anyone else.

I don't want to be what takes up the biggest part of your heart.

That role doesn't belong to me.

That role belongs to God.

I want you to know God more than you know me.

I want your relationship with God to be the #1 priority, not your relationship with me.

I want you to value God's counsel and opinion far more than you value mine.

If God asks you to do something, I want you to do it, regardless of whether it's something I think is right.

For any big decision that affects our family, you can bet that I will be on my knees getting my own answer from God. But I want you to trust your answer more than you trust mine. I want you to follow God, not me.

I want our marriage, our family, to have its best chance. I want us to have eternal happiness, more love than we can hold.

Which means that you can't love me most.

And I can't love you most.

But if we both love God with all that we have, our love will be better than it could ever be otherwise.

The Tempest

This is not a political post.

 But I think we can all agree that the overall state of our nation and our social media feeds is quite tumultuous, noisy, and a jumble of strong emotions.

Last night I turned away from the stressful crazy atmosphere in which I had no control whatsoever and instead looked to www.lds.org for some peace.

And this is what I was reminded of:

There is no human on this earth with enough power to derail God's plan.

There is Someone Else in charge.

I came last night to the lyrics of a loved hymn I'd forgotten about recently called Master, the Tempest is Raging.

The song is based off of this event from Mark 4:37-40:

Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?

It is really hard to have faith that everything will work out the way it should, especially when things seem to be falling apart.

But, again, I must remind you:

Here is where you can find the lyrics that so comforted me last night.

And here is a beautiful performance of the song that will hopefully bring some peace into your heart today: