It's been a hard month since my last post. I've had one day (today might make two) where the doubts and negativity and fear and all-around unpleasantness that's made its home in my head since I was 13 or 14 had no effect on my day. That day was marvelous. Today was marvelous. Certainly not without their trials (most of them car- and school-related), but still marvelous. I still have a long way to go before I can have those days every day.
I've learned a lot in the struggles I've had this semester about faith and the importance of obedience. (Skeptics will often reduce the religious faithful to sheep, but I'm fine with that because I know I'm following Christ and therefore on the right track). I've had good friends and good teachers and good roommates and good home teachers to get me through the lows and the anxiety attacks. Seriously, I'm surrounded by grade-A Saints these days.
I've decided that I'm going to spend this summer in Mesa, Arizona. What will I be doing there? I don't know yet, to be honest. But I have a place to stay there and feel very strongly that Arizona is where the Lord wants me for a while. (Tomorrow is resumé day, Wednesday is when I email all the local city and county governments asking for jobs).
Look at what's there! Desert and a temple! It's perfect!
I'm making progress (far too slowly, but still) on a policy brief telling the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that their mental health system sucks and why (and how!) they can do things a bit more like Sweden, who has their act together. It's the hardest and worst thing I have going on in my life right now, but it's so important and I can't wait to see if anything can come of it. (At the very least a good grade, right?)
I'm taking notes in poetry. It makes me happy and I'm actually learning the stuff better. I'm writing more in general, too. I even wrote an original song and performed it at the ward talent show!
It's springtime in Rexburg, and it is helping me so much to have bright skies and warmer temperatures.
Hey LDS smart-device users. I hope you all realize just how cool the Gospel Library app is, because I'm just now beginning to find that out and how I can make it really useful. As I make my normal study from my paper scriptures, I look for General Conference talks that relate to them. (You can get them all the way back to 1971!) Seriously. I can guarantee you that today's marvelous mood and strength came from the combination of King Benjamin's Sermon (Mosiah 2-5), this talk, this talk, and this talk.
Look! It's all there for you!
So I think that's it for a big omnibus post. Thanks for making it to the end. I'm hoping to blog more frequently and on more pointed topics, including the following:
- The UN Simulation I'm helping to put on this weekend
- The Congressional Simulation we're doing in my Legislative Branch class
- How a song about not being monogamous makes me feel
- How I need to reread Middlemarch, Sense and Sensibility, and the other great love stories I read before I actually started dating and the difference a few years will make.
- Progress with papers and job searching
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