Friday Favorites

Alright, I would wager that just about every Friday I have had in the last four months could have really used a focus on the favorites. So I'm back at it - here we go!

Favorite Quote:

I'm a big fan of, "If they are happy, good for them, embrace it, and let them just be happy!"

Mostly, because life is complicated enough as it is, if someone else has joy, I'm all for it.

Favorite Moment:

This week - like many - I lived and died by the support of my friends. Some of my best moments of the week were just texting with friends who make me laugh, make me smile, and make this life a little easier.

Favorite Song:

I'm on a country kick. It happens. This week I cannot get enough of Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert in "We Were Us."


Favorite New Show:

Alright, some of you are not going to like this - just because of the kind of comedy it is - but my new show? Bob's Burgers. You guys, I actually laugh out loud all the time while watching this show. I really can't get enough. (Thank God for Netflix!)

Favorite Surprise:

This week I was graced with two sweet cards from two sweet friends. You better believe I still send and receive snail mail on the reg - and you know what, it always brings a smile to someone's face!

Intentional, Content, Grateful & Present

This summer (yes, many months and many more degrees ago) I started working on a part of me that I abandoned quite thoroughly many years ago.

By some miracle or another I stumbled upon Lara Casey (whom I've written about before) and I started reading about her work with Southern Weddings Magazine, and her personal brand, and Making What Matters Happen. Maybe most importantly in each of these parts of her life, is her faith.

Reading Lara lead to reading others, to following others on Instagram, to hearing about other people's journeys. Now, I'm not dumb enough to think that you all would love hear about the time I've had over the last six months or so, working out who I am, and where I stand in this world, but I will say this, Lara's Powersheets, and her dedication to her faith, and sharing it with other's has shaped the way that I have dived into this last semester.

I started off August by working on intention, in my life, my actions, my thoughts.
I plowed through October while trying to be content in where I am, and what I have.
I stumbled through November attempting to be grateful, for the struggle, for learning and growing.
Here I am in December, doing my best to be present, in where I am, who I am, and this life I've got.

While each month has been something new, and something that changes me, that forces me to grow, each month has also been a struggle. In their own right, each month of this semester has brought challenges - as I knew they would. But if I am being perfectly honest, those challenges are easier with a little bit (and a growing amount at that) of faith. It is easier to take on the criticism, the hatred, the stress, when you feel like there is someone or something that has your back - like even when you feel completely and utterly alone, you aren't.

Now, I spent a lot of years cringing at the idea of working on my faith. I spent a lot of years renouncing my religion, and avoiding any thought that I may have really abandoned something worth...believing in. So I will be the first to say, this is not for everyone. This is not easy. This is harder - for sure - when you go to a liberal, modern, diverse school. This is harder when you've spent years denying it.

This is not easy.

This is not a walk that everyone feels like taking.

And I am really okay with that. I am okay with not flooding my twitter, or Instagram, or Facebook, with quotes and verses - with letting this be a private journey. I am okay with knowing that it makes plenty of people a little squeamish, because that was me. Because, to some degree, that is still me.

But I think, I'm at a point where I am also okay with talking about the fact that I am working on my faith, and where God is in my life.

Because, and here's the kicker, if other people hadn't been okay with that - if other people hadn't been willing to share their stories with strangers - I would have never taken the first step down this road.

18th Time is the Charm

I have started this post exactly 17 times since I really stopped writing here.

It seems a little ridiculous to go backwards, to rehash everything that's happened in the last four months. Mostly because, that is a lot. A lot has happened.

Not all good,  not all bad.

When I think about though, why it's been four months, why I  can't seem to make it through any of those 17 first tries, why I keep stalling out, I think it comes back to something really simple...at some point it just started being easier to not write, than to weed out the things I could and couldn't put (for whatever reason) on here.

Be it because of who may be reading...or maybe it was too personal...or maybe it was too distant...or too whiny...or too happy. It just became easier, to not.

And I can't really say that I have a good reason for trying again. I do maybe have two reasons though.

The first is, my plate is too full. My brain is too packed with things I am not saying. My words are tripping over each other, and they just need a place to go, and this has always been such a solid place.

The second is, well, it is a post in and of itself, but it's about having a little faith. It's about having a little faith in who I am, and what I am doing, and where the hell I am going.

So, maybe, just bear with me?

Maybe just see if I can work this out, if I can start writing something worth reading again, and maybe unpack all that's been packed up in my mind.