First of all. BYU makes you feel beautiful. No joke. I've never felt pretty my entire life and suddenly now I'm filled to the brim with newfound confidence in my looks and personality. Guys talk to me and flirt with me and seem genuinely interested in me! And the thing is that there's like 15,000 of them. I have options. Lots of options. High school boys are so dumb. They seem alright until you see this alternative. And then BAM.. it's a completely different world. And they're all gentlemen! So respectful!
Second. Your testimony is so much more important than you know. When you get out of high school you are on your own. This is it. Welcome to life, ladies. And for the first little while there is not much else to lean on except the Lord. It is so important to cultivate your beliefs before they're tested. I see so many kids here who don't have a testimony. They fake it because their parents want them too or they want to be cool or they want to be able to be at this school because it's cheap. That is stupid. You're cheating yourself and screwing yourself over eternally. Develop it now. It would have been so much harder for me to come to this super spiritual and new environment without a real testimony. So get it now. I have one. I found mine and strengthened it as early as I could. But not only has it been important for me for college, it was crazy important for me in high school. High school is comparable to H E double hockey sticks. Lots of hormonal idiots running around thinking they're adults. Awful. But gosh darn it, you had better do your best to enjoy it. Stay strong and blow them all away with who you are.
One of the biggest things that I've learned in my short time here at college is that you can't always be the best. Oh, man, do I know that now. Hockinson was good to me as far as success went. I was smarter than most, more talented than most, and more driven than most. I got just about everything I wanted after I worked hard for it. In comes the Y. Here at BYU everyone is an overachiever like I have always been. So, if everyone is, no one is. Everybody else is also smart and driven and talented. In fact, more driven and smart and talented than me! Suddenly I've become average. Which, if you know me, is not good on my personality. I crave being the best. So I was forced within my first couple of days to recognize that I can't always be the star of the show. I can't always know everyone. I can't always win. BUT. through this experience I've found something. And that is myself. I spent much of my life relying on success to define who I am. Now I'm a nothing, a nobody as far as success goes. I had to reach inside and find something else to define me. And I found me. I know myself so much better now than I ever had before. Guys, I'm cool! I didn't know that! I have qualities that I didn't even know I had! And I feel so confident, so stable in that knowledge. I'm unique. I'm special. I'm different. I'm happy, smart, funny, kind, giving, loving, independent, fun, and ... me. I am a strong young woman with great purpose and a burning testimony for the love of my Savior, Jesus Christ. He has helped me see that I am destined for more than I can comprehend. I was lost and now I am found. I am me.
Life is grand. Every day brings a new adventure or story to tell. Mostly about boys, but also about the journey that is life.
Love every step. It only comes once.
