Just a phase

In the grab lab the other day, one of my friends got a phone call. When it was over, he turned to us with a big smile and announced that his five year old daughter had just gotten into the Cookie Club. I guess in her class, the teacher has a special list of challenge spelling words. Kids who master it become members of the Cookie Club-and probably, receive some cookies as their reward. My friend's daughter had tried before to pass the spelling test, and she had failed. This broke her heart, especially when the kids who did pass bragged about their achievement in class. But my friend and his wife worked hard with their daughter, practicing the words again and again. When the morning came for her to take the test for a second time, she woke up feeling sick because she was so nervous.

But she did it! She passed! She was so proud to call her daddy.

The story made me smile. I remembered myself as a child. We didn't have a Cookie Club but I remember stressing out about similar things. Things that now, in the grand scheme of my life, were small and insignificant, but at the time they were my whole life. Sometimes a challenge like a spelling test seemed insurmountable. Looking back though, I can see I didn't need to be so worried.

I realized... some things haven't changed. :) The challenges that I am facing now are more intense than those I faced in elementary school, true. I'm in a time of life when I have big decisions to make, some of which will have eternal consequences, and some of which will impact me for the rest of my mortal life. But ultimately, this time too, shall pass. My parents are always telling me I shouldn't be so worried about figuring out my life-it all works out. Everything comes together. Things work out as they are supposed to. If you're doing your best, the Lord takes care of the rest. You get to where you need to be.

All these concerns I am facing right now are just a part of the college life. Before I know it, they will be over and done. Life is short-I should just relax and enjoy the ride!

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Here at BYU, there is a pretty cool website--http://theboard.byu.edu. Here you can ask anonymous questions, and a team of highly trained volunteers respond, usually in exactly 100 hours. I'll admit I've asked them a few things in my day, and I am always pleased with their answers. Every once in a while, I think about applying to become a Board writer, but then I'm not sure that I'd ever have the time! We'll see what happens.

Anyways, sometimes when I need a break in the grad lab, I go on the website and hit the "I'm board" button and just read through random questions pulled up from the past. ... Haha, come to think of it, that's not how I found the question I'm about to quote. It was posted yesterday, and so I read it in my daily board readings... But anyway, you can find it here: http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/61696/ The question is interesting, but irrevelent to the point I want to make. One line in the response particularly stood out to me: "In my experience it doesn't do much good to dream about how things could be. It's better instead to focus on how good things are."

This line really resonated with me. I am a dreamer by nature, which comes in handy sometimes, like when I am trying to finish that novel I started when I was 12. :) But other times, it can be a bad thing. It is too easy to dream about how my life will be someday when things are better. When my sister is healthy again, when I finally find a boyfriend, when I get married, whatever. Sometimes I get so caught up in dreaming of how things might be that I forget to look around and enjoy the life I am living now! This is a habit I need to overcome. No matter what stage I reach in life, there will always be something more than I need to accomplish, some other goal that I yearn after. That's fine, but I need to learn NOW to be happy in the moment. If I'm always waiting for X or Y to happen so I can be happy, I will always be waiting... not happy.

So, new goal. I need to stop and smell the roses. I'm living in what some people call the best years of my life. While I'm not sure that's true exactly, it IS true that I have a lot of unique opportunities right now that I won't have again. I need to relax and enjoy 'em! You're only young once!

Goals

1. Go to bed earlier and get up earlier.
2. Visit my extended family more often.
3. Go to the temple more often.
4. Study in the grad lab more often-it makes me more productive, and I'm happier when I have other people to talk to as I study.
5. Go to see the Carl Bloch display in the Museum of Art-it's a once in a lifetime experience! I need to go!

Shelece Navidad

People ask me sometimes where my name comes from.

I wish I had a cool story to tell. The real story is pretty short. There was a girl in our ward in California when I was born. Her name was Shelece. My parents thought it was a pretty name. The end!

No one is ever satisfied with this story. But where does your name come from, people ask? Sometimes they'll guess a place. Someone was convinced once that it was a Jewish name. I've had other people guess that it's French.

That's when I tell them the truth: it is a Utah Mormon name. A random mashup of two names, as popularized in Stephenie Meyer's book Breaking Dawn (don't forget, she's a Mormon!). Renesmee? Totally a Utah Mormon name! And I don't even know the two names that went into my name. One of them is clearly Elise. But where did the "Sh" come from? Sharon? Charlotte?

I love my name, but I do have one small regret, in that it has no meaning behind it. It's not referenced in any baby names list I've ever seen, and no one has any clue what it means.

One of my friends in the grad lab told her husband about me. He gave me a new nickname: Shelece Navidad. Very appropriate for the season. :) I started wondering-what does the Spanish word Feliz mean anyways? I know Feliz Navidad is Merry Christmas, but what does Feliz mean? I put it into google translator. Turns out... it means "happy." :)

I like that. I'm claiming it. From here on out, if anyone asks, Shelece does mean something.

HAPPY!

I made it!

You know, it's pretty funny to be me that I can be an obsessive journaler, writing down every little detail that goes in my life (well... at least lots of the little details) but I cannot seem to do this public blogging thing to save my life. I don't know why. I guess I feel like I should have something really inspirational/funny/witty/brilliant to say in order to blog, and that hasn't been happening to me all that often. :)

But something significant did happen of late. I officially survived my first semester of grad school! :D After the first month, I wasn't so sure I was going to make it. But it turns out I love grad school. The girls in my program (and okay, like the one guy there) are amazing! Our work load is intense, but it's stuff that really matters--no more busy work. The professors treat us more like equals now that we are in grad school. Overall, it's a great experience-I'd recommend it to anyone!

Anyways, that's all for now. Everyone have a very merry Christmas! Be safe in your travels home, and don't forget to keep in touch. :)

A year makes a big difference

A year ago, I was feeling pretty lost.

Ever since high school, I'd been planning on becoming a marriage and family counselor. I was going to get my bachelor's degree from BYU and then apply to stay on in their marriage and family therapy program. I'd worked hard for three years, taken the GRE, gotten a job as a research assistant, and even signed up for a class on how to apply for MFT programs. The application due date was December 1, and I was all set to go.

Except... the closer the application date came, the more something felt wrong to me. Every time I went to my MFT application class, I felt more and more uneasy. Something was telling me that MFT was not where I belonged. That was really hard for me. It was something I prayed about and anguished over, and finally realized... MFT really wasn't for me. That wasn't what I was supposed to do. I never turned in my application.

I was devastated. I felt like my whole life plans had just gone out the window, and I didn't know why. I worried that maybe I just wasn't good enough to handle graduate school. I had no idea what to do with my life. My bachelor's degree wasn't that conducive to a career, which I'd never worried about before because grad school had always been the plan. I was scared to death, and praying all the time for help in figuring out what I should do. I kept thinking how much it would help to see just a little glimpse of the future!

I didn't get that glimpse, but I kept getting the message, "Relax. Everything is going to work out."

At the time, I couldn't see how it could, but looking back, I never should have worried. Everything came together, one step at a time, right when it needed to. Now here I am, a happy graduate student in the Marriage, Family, and Human Development program, emphasizing Family Life Education. I know with all my heart that this is where I need to be and what the Lord needs me to be doing. A year ago, I couldn't see the path ahead of me, but Heavenly Father could. He got me where I needed to be. He helped me make the connections that I needed to make.

Yesterday, while I was in the meta-analysis lab, I overheard a conversation going on outside. A boy who was working on applying to graduate school was asking one of my fellow grad students for advice. As he talked about how nervous he was in not knowing the future, I had to smile. I didn't go out to talk to him, but to him and all my friends in their senior year-Relax. Things really will work out. Just do your best and move forward. He will get you where you need to be! The unknown is never unknown to God.

Random Observation for the Day

So today I had to dig through my apartment "move in" packet to find my landlord's address. I noticed this interesting tidbit in there:
"Hint: Don’t ever put these down the disposal:

                        Fibrous vegetables - raw carrots, celery, broccoli, etc.

                        Thick starches - rice, pasta, noodles

                        Peelings of any kind - potatoes, carrots, onions, apples, bananas, melons

                        Rocks from fish tanks"

...

...

Rocks... from fish tanks?

Okay, who dumped their poor fish down the food disposal???