twenty.one goals

1. Don't forget my roots. With moving away from all my established friends, and being completely on my own again (not surrounded by any family), i have decided that my goal this year is to be a better long distance friend. This goal is all about those folks who laugh at the same dumb jokes i do, have been there for me through thick and thin, and are still friends with me despite my seventh grade yearbook photo. This is for the friends who have changed my outlook on life and have left me a better person. it reminds me that my 'homes' are more often people than they are houses. "All of us are largely the products of the lives which touch upon our lives, and today I feel profoundly grateful for all who have touched mine." -Gordon B. Hinckley

2. Be a health food guru. I enjoy eating healthy. As of late, i have been particularly intrigued with food and health. (which is surprising for the once young girl who was obsessed with Fun-Dips and wouldn't eat a healthy thing for her life.) I want to be more knowledgeable this year on how to feed my body and soul with good food that keeps me fresh and going strong. i love the way it makes me feel. 

3. Run a marathon. I ran a half in October of this last year. Not as easy as i had once thought, but it was a good pain for my body. It helped me overcome mental obstacles in my life and gave me the confidence that i can do hard things. I have always fantasied about running a marathon, both my parents have run countless of them, older sister has done a few, and older brother is working towards one, grandpa ran them til 83 years young. It's kind of what my family just does. I want to be a part of that this year. 

4. Book of Mormon, every day. This summer while in Jerusalem, I learned SO much about our wonderful gospel. My testimony grew exponentially, and it kick started the rest of my life. I read the whole old and new testaments in the summer in depth and learned so many new things. It has caused me to have an urge to read the Book of Mormon again, and study it in as much depth. 

5. Make my own Etsy page. I really enjoy making journals and new books from old books i find at D.I. I think it would be pretty sweet to make a little bit of an income and sell some on Etsy sometime this year. I just love creating new things from older things and it might be kind of fun to give Etsy a shot.

for example:

i turned this picture book into a recipe book for my niece Kate's 9th birthday.

6. Make all the events in my life positive. My dad once told me two life principles i have never forgotten: 1. Events in your life are just that, events. They are not universally positive or negative. We assign the positive/negative sign to them. To one person a negative event, will be some one else's positive event. 2. Everything in life happens for a reason. 

When i believe those two statements, it makes me rethink how i react to situations, and this year i want to work on welcoming all the events into my life and making the negative ones positive and using all of them as a learning and growing experience.

7. Be Bold. "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours…If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.." -Henry David Thoreau.

8. Build up the community around me. Start local. Especially with those with disabilities. I have had the pleasure of meeting and befriending an amazing boy named Jacob (with Cerebral Palsy) in my Psych Stats class. And, starting this week, i will be working with an 18 year old girl with Autism, named Kara. I want to learn all i can from them (and people like them) this year, I want to write their stories. I want to let my heart touch theirs, and let them break down all my walls and let me be true to myself.

9. Be a NPR dude/understand what is happening in this world. Perfect timing for the Presidential elections? you betcha.

10. Fall in love more, and worry less. 

Dear little girl in the tie dyed pants, when you were young, you held hands and kissed lips. You made love and mistakes. That boy with the golden hair broke your heart, but he had to so you could meet the boy with the thick black glasses and the crooked smile. And that boy with the thick black glasses and the crooked smile had to break your heart so you could meet the boy with auburn hair and ocean eyes. Everything that will happen is part of your path.

"(Madly in love.) I'm not talking about a passing fad. I mean the kind that you stay up late because you can't wait to start a lifetime of adventure with that someone. When in those tender moments between wakefulness and sleep, you feel your hearts beating as one, and somewhere deep inside you know that whatever faults you have can be absolved by her goodness." -Brandon Davis 

and one more quote on the matter: 

"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.” -Nicole Krauss

11. Be true to who i am. As long as you stand out, you’ll attract others who are like you. Be proud to be you. Try not to care what other people think. People have hurt you in the past, and will probably hurt you in the future. Stay strong.

especially when feeling like this::

12. Steer away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in my sails. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

13. Embrace today. "Today, I woke up, put on my sparkly special occasion shoes, went out the door, and made big plans for the day. Because today is a special occasion. Bring out the expensive china. Light the candles. It's today after all, and this day in history won't ever happen again."

14. Be a more honest person. (not just in the sense of telling the truth) but rather in the sense of being genuine, down to earth. a person who is blunt when needed, but never as an excuse to be unkind. Honest with myself, with my strengths, and weaknesses, constantly improving where i can and becoming someone more.

15. Perfect the "ollie" on my snowboard. Oh, and maybe catch a few more box jumps :)

16. Explore this world, and find undiscovered color. 

17. Temple. Temple. Temple. yes, that means being brave enough to call up the Logan temple and ask for an appointment to do baptisms... it probably isn't as scary as it sounds...

18. Remember. Remember what you have done to get here. Remember those who did what they had to do to get you here. Remember all that you have learned. Remember the painful experiences that have caused those scars. Remember the reward in the end. Remember why you're doing what you're doing. Remember what life is really about. Remember how He has never left your side. Remember that you have been guided to this point in your life today, there is nothing that will happen today that you are not prepared to overcome with His help. Remember this moment when you feel self doubt.

19. Become a 1.0. 

20. Take time for solitude. Personal reflections of day to day life. Don't over analyze (you are queen of doing that) but do not overlook something that is meant to mean a little more.

21. De-stressify. Most everything has no good reason to stress over. relax. breathe through your nostrils and laugh at the irony. You got this!