early new years resolutions.

It has been forever since I came on here honestly! But lately I've been thinking about resolutions, and looking back at this last year there are many things I would like to change for this year. Something that has been bothering me about life is that I sometimes feel like I waste too much time. I have a love affair with tumblr and Pinterest, and basically any other social media site. I've noticed that just about in the last year, I've strayed from things that used to make me so happy, and now I just waste my time! I really want to change that. Another thing that I've been thinking about is how quickly memories fade away. It honestly makes me sad that a year from now I won't remember how nice the lady at the movie theater was, or that I actually won a race against my brother on Mario Kart. I've decided that I want to seriously document my days, because memories are my favorite.
So, to bring these two ideas together, I want to make a resolution to first, spend less time on social media. Like, seriously seriously limit myself on it. By doing this, it will leave so much more time for important things in my life. Second, I want to document things in my life. Like, seriously seriously document for a straight up year. So I'm writing down my goals now and posting them so that I'll feel slightly accountable.

1. Not as much social media involvement, because let's be real, who is that benefitting?
2. If I do share things, make it wholesome and good!
3. Carry a notebook always, and write down things that make an impression or that I want to remember
4. Take pictures
5. Write something about my overall day, my feelings, my favorite things, my least favorite things, and do it every day. I'm going to do this on my computer so that it will be quicker!
6. Try every Wednesday (maybe a different day, I don't know) to discuss something that I've found in my week

And I think that's it. Like honestly, looking back at 2014, it was all fandoms and social media and laziness. And sure that's fine, but I mean, where did that get me? I don't feel like I've grown much from last year, and I hate that. I want to be a new, better person by next year, and I am thinking that this can help me do that! So here's to 2015!

i choose happiness.

This last week I had the opportunity to go to a Youth Conference sort of thing called the Boise Youth Spectacular. While I was there, I learned so many amazing, incredible things, but one thing in particular stood out to me, and that was happiness. 

I’ve always been thought of as a pretty dang happy person, but over the past year or so, I haven’t been as happy as I probably could have been. I let little things bother me, I let storm clouds dim my day. Sure, I still acted happy and wasn’t feeling absolutely awful, but I did have moments where I was truly, honestly unhappy, and the rest of the time I felt pretty empty.

At BYS, from the moment it began, I felt happy. I hadn’t been overly excited about going in the first place, but as soon as we started I felt so much better. The people all around me were incredibly happy and had amazing spirits that were just amazing to be around. Overall, it was an insanely spiritual week, and I learned so much.

As soon as I left, though, I noticed the difference in energy. I had forgotten how stressful everything is, how there are so many terrible things happening, and all the things we have to be sad for. It was almost a culture shock, I didn’t know quite how to respond. I remembered before BYS, how all those things bothered me too, how I had my own fair share of things that would make me feel really down. What had been so different about BYS? Home, there were still so many amazing people that I respected and loved, but at BYS, things had just been so much happier. Why was that?

Obvious first answer is that at BYS, there’s literally no responsibilities. There, we didn’t have to worry about a job or paying rent or even what to make for dinner. But the other answer was that everyone there was so spiritually fed and I think that is what really made the difference.

Thinking about this, I’ve been wondering: why is it that feeling the Sprit makes us so happy? And why do we get so down when we aren’t feeling the Spirit? Sure, we should feel a difference, but would it really be that significant?

Well, I think that having true happiness is one of the greatest blessings we can receive. On the reverse of that, I think unhappiness is one of Satan’s greatest tools he uses against us.

I know, gettin’ crazy here, but think about it for a little bit. If we are unhappy, suddenly everything seems so much worse. If we get upset about one thing, it turns into this huge domino effect and we are soon only focusing on the bad. For example, think about the expression “woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” When people say that to others, it’s suggesting they just aren’t having a good day based on their attitude or circumstances. If you wake up and have the attitude that nothing is going to go right that day, then you know what? You’re probably right. It won’t. So many awful things happen every single day, but we have an amazing gift called agency where we can choose, and this includes our attitude. We can decide to make the best of any situation and not be a slave to our circumstances. 

If we look all around us it’s easy to see all the evil and immorality in the world today. But just thinking about it, it’s also so easy to see so much more sadness in the world. It’s everywhere in the media — we hear so many more songs about being sad over some breakup or a bad situation that really shouldn’t have so much long-term weight on us. We see so many movies that are focused on some punk teenager that gets angry at their family over nothing. We post on Facebook or Tweet a problem that we’re sure will never go away, that we need everyone to know about because it’s just so awful.

We can easily recognize all the evil things happening around us that go against our standards, but I think it’s harder to see the unhappiness of everything, and that’s why Satan uses it so much. I’ve also seen how in our day, so many more people are diagnosed with depression. It’s apparent by how many suicides there are every year, the eating disorders, the insecurities that are everywhere in our society. We are all tested, and to me this is one of the greatest challenges of earth life, to feel just absolutely empty and like nothing will work out. As we get nearer to the last days, I definitely think this will become a bigger and bigger problem. I can also see this problem not even in the case of depression, but getting upset and being too stressed. If Satan can get us to be angry over something small, it’s so easy for us to get angry over something else. One thing after another, and soon we realize that not very many kind words have been said that day, and instead more nagging and irritation. If we are stressed out, then suddenly all our energies are focused on that one thing, and anything that gets in the way is suddenly so much more terrible. Seeing all these different situations that are very much not happy, don’t we see that many of the problems in the world today are based on sadness? Addictions, self-image issues, and family problems start many times from unhappiness — being unhappy with ourselves or our circumstances — and then trying to cope or escape. 

Now, I’m not suggesting we should make light of everything or pretend like nothing bad ever happens, because if we’re being real here, it so does. I definitely believe in the importance of the refiner’s fire and having trials, but the part I love most about it is gaining strength from bad things. Do we gain strength from a difficult experience if we dwell constantly on how awful/hard it was and how we’ll never recover? No, I don’t think so. We are faced with challenges so we can learn and be tested and prove that we are strong enough to get through these things. Strength is gained from hard things by finding what it taught and using that to be better, and then letting yourself be happy. 

Being happy is so hard sometimes, I know this for a fact. There are so many days where I have to get up early for work and remember that I have to do this and this and also this that day, that I probably won’t get to eat lunch so I can get it done and I won’t be able to watch my favorite TV show or read my book or spend time with my friends or sleep very much and the forecast predicts super bad weather and also I have to pay for my phone bill and pick up my sister from her friend’s house — the list could go on and on. Some days, everything seems turned against us, we hit every red light on the way to work or someone ate the last piece of pizza (actual real life struggle here) or wake up late. I get it, I understand these things happen, because I’ve had it happen to me. But it’s all about our attitude. Spilled something on my white shirt? Sweet, now I can go out and buy myself a new white shirt to replace it, that one was getting old anyway. Have to drive a long way for something I don’t want to? Hey, I get music rock out time! 

One of my favorite quotes is, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” We are going to have rainy days that seem like they’re just gonna suck supremely. I truly believe that if we decide to be happy, if we let ourselves be happy, if we make the conscious choice that today I choose happiness, we can be the master of our circumstances. We can find how much good there is in the world, learn from the hard things in our life, then move on and be truly happy.

I promise, it’s worth it. It’s so much better than letting yourself be empty or angry or stressed out. Attitude is everything, and it is always our choice. 

Today, and always, I choose happiness.

here, have an inspirational quote.

first hellos are bound to be awkward.

Why did I start a blog? Well, I'm not too sure myself. I like to write, and I was sure this could help me at least a little. I also love the internet, and all the awesome things and people that are involved with it. I want to be able to share things with others, not just my Facebook friends.

I want my blog to be a lot of things - inspirational, funny, and just a creative thing for me. Sounds fun, and maybe I'll forget about it a few months from now, but hopefully it is just fun. 

So now, about me. Well, technically my name is Samantha, but we won't talk about that. Just call me Sam :) I happen to be 17 years old and I just graduated high school and am so ready for new adventures. I love reading and writing, I love going to the movies, the TV show Once Upon a Time is my greatest addiction, and at any given point in the day, I could be crying over the latest Marvel movie. I get on Pinterest more than is healthy, but I still do get on there a disgusting amount. I love being inspired because sometimes I do get a little down. I do things I don't want to, but that's when it's best to get back up and try. I run track, do swim team, and besides that I can't do anything :) Sometimes I think I'm funny, but most of the time it ends up just getting weird. 

Hopefully that's all . . . if there's anything else you would like to know, feel free to comment and ask! I love getting to know other people! Have the loveliest of days :)