A Bit About A Storm

So here's the deal. You don't know everything. Neither do I. It sucks. To make matters worse, there's this lovely little thing that creeps into our lives as a natural byproduct of this lack of omniscience. It annoys us. It holds us back and tells us "Nope...bad idea..." It's called doubt. But you know what? It's a good thing. Feel free to stop and take a minute to roll your eyes or cough in surprise. I don't mind. I'm not crazy, I promise, but I also promise I'm a pretty fair expert on the topic.

WARNING: Great big, possibly cheesy metaphor incoming. Brace yourself.

Here's the thing with doubt: it's a great big storm cloud. But when you shift your focus a little, even the darkest of storms can have wonderful meaning...

I live in a place where thunder rolls and storms come in as big black clouds that darken your day and put you in a grumpy mood just because they can. Sounds pretty depressing right? Well there's also something unique about these storms that I have come to love and look forward to. Just before a storm, before the rain and lightning and commotion, there's a stillness, you know, the calm before the storm? In this calm, you can feel the storm coming in. It's not the energy crackling around you before a lightning strike or the feeling of a chill wind accompanying the storm. It's not even a foreboding feeling of impending doom as the common uses of "The calm before the storm" usually refer to. In reality, it's an anticipation of the potential replenishment. Personally, I think it's entirely possible that it springs from a plethora of life dancing at the idea that they might survive the storm and enjoy the rejuvenating nourishment that comes from a good rain. The grass, the trees, the animals, they don't know of any impending danger any more than we do. Do we know if our house is about to get struck by lightning and burn down? Nope. Could it? Maybe. Could it hail like crazy and turn our car into something that resembles more of a golf ball than a reliable method of transportation? Yup. It could. But there's plenty of time to tell a storm is coming and worry about the danger. In this brief period before the rain comes, the thought comes..."My roses could really use the extra rain..." or "It's been so hot lately, I'm glad for the cool reprieve..." I have complete faith that the plants and trees and animals have similar thoughts processes.  When you take a deep breath, and breathe in the air around you, you can perceive this calm.

Then the storm comes. That part sucks. There's no avoiding it. Anyone who's stuck outside and exposed in a storm has a bad day. Even in a car if you're driving through a good storm, you might see a little cool-looking lightning and stuff, but you're still not gonna be the happiest person on the road that day. So you weather the storm and keep going. Maybe you huddle up under a blanket and watch the pretty lightning outside the window? Or maybe you curl up in bed and pull several pillows over your head to drown out the drumming of rain on your roof while you're trying to sleep.

Eventually the storm passes. You'll wake up, or get out of your comfy spot by the fire, go have a look outside, and the storm will have passed over. And what will you find at this moment? More calm! That's right! This is the BEST part. You'd forgotten. There's a storm BEFORE the calm. (If my buddy Jake reads this he's going to have a really happy moment as soon as he reads that bit about the storm before the calm...) There may be a few isolated raindrops coming off of trees and things, some different places recovering from the fact that they didn't have as good of fortune as you, maybe the tree out front had a bad day and got zapped by lightning...but for the most part, all is well. Step outside, and take a deep breath again. It's there, a similar calm to what was there before the storm. But it's a little different this time. What's the difference? Gratification. Life around you emits an aura of peace because despite the dark cloud that came over and dropped all sorts of natural nonsense on the area, everything is still okay. Life goes on. The world around you has been nourished and survived through a storm. That's a wonderful feeling. If you're really paying attention, you can't help but smile at the wonderful feeling.

So are you having doubts about something? Is there a job you're really thinking about taking, but maybe you aren't sure if it's the right way to go? Or maybe a girl (or guy...) that you really like that you aren't sure you really want to tell about it? Well it's time for a storm again. Maybe this storm will bring a tornado with it. It's true. But maybe not? Maybe all this storm will be for you is a source of nourishment and growth. Doubt creeps in slowly, rolling thunder along the way. The threat of natural disaster looms in the air. But, if you keep going, don't let it completely cloud over your life, and take a brief moment right before you think the storm is about to hit and take a deep breath, you'll feel the calm. If you don't, doubt's gonna get the best of you, and this entire storm is going to be a miserable experience, and you'll miss all the good that comes from it. But if you do stop and feel that peace,  you'll realize all of the potential for good things ahead that spring from this storm. Maybe things will go bad. But maybe they won't and you'll wind up better off! What's the bad news? There's gonna be a storm. Some way or another the storm IS coming. All you can do is make sure you're as prepared as you can be. And then...weather the storm. Just get through it. Doubts are gonna come. Things aren't going to go as well as you thought they might. But remember that you stopped and felt that calm. Remember it's going to be okay. And guess what! The storm will pass. And when it does, look around and take in a deep breath again. You'll feel that gratification. That feeling of "I made it!" that makes life so sweet and makes achievement something so glorious to feel.

Doubt is a silly thing that bothers us, and there's nothing really that we can do about it. Sometimes it gets to us and ruins our day and before we know it the storm's passed and we're in a bad mood because there was a storm. But doubts keep us in check; they remind us that we don't know everything. They give us an opportunity to keep thinking, or to keep looking at things differently. And all we have to do, is take a second to look around at the right moments, and we see how we can overcome this thing called doubt. Using the lessons it has to teach us, we can utilize it as a reinvigorating injection of defiance and motivation. "I can do this!" is what springs from doubt when we look at it with the right point of view. And with this renewed sense of purpose we pick up speed and move that much further towards what we're out to accomplish; all because of this wonderfully obnoxious thing called doubt.

I hope you all enjoy the holidays, and keep doubt from clouding over you too much at this time when your thoughts are drawn to the things that you really care about.

And as always, remember that the simple things that make life wonderful are right there in front of you. You just have to look at them in the right light.

A Little Bit About Family

This post is dedicated to my father, whom I love dearly and has always been my hero.

It's amazing how, in life, often you find yourself on the brink of giving up. You've done everything you thought you could; you've reached the limit of what you know how to accomplish; and you can't, no matter how much thinking and pondering you do, figure out the next step to take. Some people are good at handling themselves and staying positive in these kinds of situations. I envy them. I am not one of them.

However, time and time again when I find myself on the verge of just saying "Screw it!" I'm reminded of something that I tend to take for granted: I have an amazing family that loves me and watches out for me. Over and over just when I'm in need of a pick-me-up, or in need of guidance and direction, or in need of a kick in the behind to get going again, my family has been there for me. Sometimes it's the random happy birthday call from a sister, or a brother stepping up and organizing a family get-together to say "We love you, and we want you to know how special you are to us." Every time I can think of where I've really felt lost, felt like I had nowhere forward to go, my family has been there to interject the perfect amount of wisdom or experience or warning to help me get through what I was unable  to accomplish myself.

Each of us has a family of some sort. Each of us has a different situation with our family. My family is nowhere near perfect. But I think the definition of family is people who are there for you when you need them, no matter what you're going through or have done in the past, and no matter what they're going through or have done in the past. In my last blog post I talked about friends, and they are, truly, family to me. But they cannot replace the incredible family that I have been born into.

I have been blessed with wonderful parents. They have taught me valuable things and never cease to provide wisdom and guidance at the right moments. Their example in their marriage and the way they live life is an unending source of strength to me. My mom has an incredible ability to recognize and find joy in the many tender mercies she finds herself blessed with throughout life. We have not always had everything life could give us, and yet my mom always has a way of seeing wonderful and joyful things on a day to day basis that make home a happy and wonderful place to be. My dad is a rock of strength and wisdom. He's not the most expressive person. He doesn't always give voice to his thoughts and opinions. But no matter what I've been going through, whether he approved of my actions or disapproved, I've always been able to go to him and ask for advice and guidance. Ever since I was little I can always remember being able to ask him questions about anything, big or small. If he didn't know the answer, he would point me in the right direction to obtain the answer myself. There has never been a day that I doubted his love for me, and his example is something I will always look up to.

I am blessed with wonderful siblings. They've all been through different things. They all see the world in different ways. Some days they teach me more than others, but I learn so much from them and gain so much from their examples. My place in the family as the "Runt," the little brother that was a surprise to them all, is something I enjoy and cherish. As they each see things in a different way, they shed light on different aspects in my life in their own ways, and together without often even knowing their combined influence, they provide a light for me that I would be lost without.

Not everyone is blessed with a family like mine. For some people, their family is one of the biggest struggles they face. If you are one of these people, I understand where you find yourself, and my heart goes out to you. But this post is, I feel, specifically meant for you. You especially are the ones that must be reminded that family is a treasure to be valued above all else in the world. No matter what the situation is, no matter the troubles you have with your family, there is hope. The gospel heals all wounds. Your actions and decisions affect your family more than anyone else in your life. Seek to choose the right, do your best to live up to the expectations of your Father in Heaven, and partake of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to refine yourself and become a better person, and you will feel and see the effects it will have on your family. Whether it will change the hearts and minds of your loved ones around you, or will lead you towards the opportunity to start a righteous and wonderful family of your own, the blessings of the Gospel will be impossible to miss in your life and in your family.

I am forever grateful to my family, and I only hope that I will be able to be as much of a strength and example to them as they are to me. 

Again I leave you with the best of wishes, and I leave you with my humble reminder: The simple and most important things in life are often right there, hiding in plain sight right in front of us, awaiting only our acknowledgement that they are indeed what make our lives truly grand.

The Beginning: Friendship

This my first post is dedicated to Stephanie, a dear friend.

Okay I'm not going to even come close to lying. This blog is starting because of two things: the first being that a wonderful friend of mine promised that if I started a blog she'd read it; the second is that the same friend wrote an amazing blog that I'm really appreciative of and so I feel a certain need to get revenge on her!

So I'm going to start off by stating a very important fact; something that must not be forgotten UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES no matter how long I wind up keeping this blog going and how much I write. I am a very simple guy with very simple tastes and even simpler expectations and needs from life. I'm not looking to show off my knowledge or awe anyone with my writing. If you walk away from this blog feeling uplifted and maybe a little bit inspired, then I have done my job.

Now with all of that said, my intentions with this blog are simple and straightforward. I'm a bit of a dufus, and quite often find myself missing what's right in front of my face. So just in case there are other people out there that suffer from the same problem, I'm going to try to keep a bit of a record here of things I've realized were right in front of my face. I'm going to try to point out the simple and wonderful things in my life that are important to me and bring me happiness in the hopes that maybe anyone else reading this will be reminded of the things that they have forgotten about or taken for granted. Perhaps you can learn from my mistakes and you won't have to spend as much time as I have, miserable for no better reason than that you weren't looking hard enough at how wonderful your life was.

So where to start? I've learned so much, in the last few months even, about my life and what I'm appreciate of, but I think the best place to begin and certainly what has become absolutely most important to me is the people around me. When you realize that there are people around you that you love and that love you right back, no matter how much you deserve to be punched in the face due to sheer lack of sense, life becomes quite a bit brighter. And you realize that no matter what you're going through, it'll all be okay because you have people that are going to be there with you through thick and thin and a little tiny bit further beyond that. These are the people that will come give you a hug when you really need one, with get angry with you at someone or something who has slighted you, and who will lovingly say "You know, dear, you're really being kinda stupid" when you most need to hear it.

I have a wonderful group of friends. Every day they all, each and every one of them, find new ways to inspire me and teach me new things about myself and the world around me. Some of them I've known for a very long time; others I have only recently enjoyed getting to know. But one thing I'm certain of is that it doesn't matter how long you know someone, when they love you and you love them, you're going to be friends for life. I'm so grateful for the people I have around that I know I will be able to count on for the rest of my life, and even beyond into the eternities. I have lost count of the number of times that one of them has said something, even something silly or seemingly unimportant, that has touched me or made me think about things differently and changed me in ways that are irrevocable. Without these people in my life, I would be truly lost. To all of my beloved friends out there, whether you wind up reading this or not, I send you my love and infinite gratitude. I don't know what road lies ahead for me or you, but I smile at the thought that no matter what road it is or what direction it leads, we'll get to experience it together.

To those of you who have a close group of friends, don't ever let it slip away. Do whatever needs to be done to keep it tight. Mend any rifts, forgive any wrongs, and hog-tie any stragglers and bring them back to the fold. Love is the foundation for everything. Through the love you share with your friends, your joy will grow more and more full, and you will look more and more towards the source of all that is good, a loving and kind Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

To those of you who don't have such a group of friends and people that you feel love you and enjoy your love... there's still good news. You have a Heavenly Father who loves you. He loves you infinitely, more than anyone in this world will ever be able to match. He loves you so much he sent His Son to atone for all of your flaws and mistakes and foibles. He sent His Son to be there to comfort you, and to lead and guide you. I bear my firm witness that as you seek to follow the Lord, he will lead you towards happiness, and he will help you find the people that you need in your life, and that may need you just as much. 

This is my testimony tonight as I close this post. I have lived and experienced the road that the Savior would have us walk to change our lives and turn misery and despair into happiness and joy. As you look for the simple and wonderful things in life, look to your friends and loved ones. Their influence will affect your life forever, and through them and the love you share with them you will find a better life and a happier existence.

Until we find our paths crossing again, I wish you the best, and remind you to always remember that the simple and most important things in life are often right there, hiding in plain sight right in front of us, awaiting only our acknowledgement that they are indeed what makes our lives truly grand.