Silver Lined Life

I often catch myself looking through old photos, videos, and text messages. I like to reminisce, and I’m much more sentimental than people make me out to be. In high school, I studied media communications and made some news stories and some films. I learned to capture the moment for others to see, as well as for myself to see in the future. I remember one evening, I was on the phone with one of my friends, and he was going on a trip very soon. I kept reminding him to take a ton of photos to remember his experience. His response, however, shocked me. He explained how he didn’t like to take a lot of photos or videos in the moment. He said something that simply blew my mind. “I don’t need to see the world through a screen, because if I live my life well enough in the moment, I probably won’t forget it.” Boom. Mind blown. It’s a simple concept obviously, but one that I had definitely overlooked. If you’re not completely present and living the “now” to its fullest, the future is e...

For as long as I can remember, my sister and I have been polar opposites in every aspect of who we are. This could have something to do with our nearly 7 year age gap, but I personally think we were just born liking and disliking entirely different things. At the age of 25, a lot of people probably believe that my sister should be getting ready to "settle down", but according to our conversation the other night, that is not in her plans right now, and I definitely respect that. I, however, catch myself daydreaming about falling in love, getting married to the man of my dreams, and starting a family. I am "that girl" that has a Pinterest board dedicated to my hypothetical wedding. I'm such a sucker for romantic movies. And most importantly, I advocate for love in nearly every form. Why then, have I remained single for my entire 18 years of life? I think my parents used to worry so much that I would fall in love at a young age and have a reckless relationship, b...

Anyone who knows me knows that student council and leadership consume(d) my life (they still kind of consume my life). Being student body president, I attended "required" monthly presidents meetings where all of the student body presidents in Vegas would meet at one of the high schools in town about everything and anything student council. I put the quotes around "required" because I would have gone to those meetings whether we had to or not. I looked forward to them every single month! They were one time I could see some of my closest friends all together at once, and we got to talk about leadership. Does life even get better than that? We all became great friends very quickly. In my group of friends, there was this ongoing joke between the presidents that we all had peaked in high school. "We've already become presidents of our schools! It must all be downhill from here." As lighthearted as this joke was, it quickly became a real fear for many ...

"It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." -Ralph Waldo Emerson This quote is one of the last text messages I received from one of my very best friends before he left on a two year mission for his church. Since the summer before our senior year, he has been telling me to take better care of myself: emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I've never put my needs aside as a way of being self destructive. More than anything, putting others first has just felt like the right thing to do. Helping others has been ingrained in my nature since before I can remember. When I joined leadership in the fourth grade, being selfless became second nature through different service opportunities and staying extra hours at school. By my senior year of high school, I was elected student body president. Disclaimer: being student body president is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I love t...