Bringing in the New Year ... A Little Late ...

In our culture, we generally set goals every new year of things that we want to accomplish that year. I am a huge fan of goals and accomplishing new things in life! Goals help us to have direction and progress rather than remain stagnant with no purpose. I hate when that first challenge to your goal comes and people just give up. I once heard from a guy who was a personal trainer at a gym that he sees more people in his gym in January and February than almost any other month. Why do we give up? Why are we so good during the first months of the year and then we maybe forget one day or purposely disregard our goals and never get back into it. 

"In our journey on earth, we discover that life is made up of challenges—they just differ from one person to another. We are success oriented, striving to become “wonder women” and “super men.” Any intimation of failure can cause panic, even despair. Who among us cannot remember moments of failure? ... Our responsibility is to rise from mediocrity to competence, from failure to achievement. Our task is to become our best selves. One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the joy of trying again, for no failure ever need be final." 

- Thomas S. Monson

No matter what your goals are for the New Year, be the best you that you can possibly be- it's NEVER too late to change. And there's never a bad time to restart goals- if you fall off the horse, get right back up and start riding again. Winston Churchill once said "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it if the courage to continue that counts." 

So some of my personal goals this year: 

1) Be healthy! We're supposed to be good stewards over all that God has entrusted to us and certainly our bodies are one of those things. I don't think I'm a junk food addict or a couch potato, but there are things I don't like about my body and I want to change those things. 

2) Be a voice for good! The great and terrible thing about the internet is that it gives everyone a voice- not everyone has to listen to a specific voice because there are so many of them out there. There are lots of opinions, misconceptions, ideas, and thoughts out there that can be for good or for bad. I want to add my voice to those for good and help to bring a little bit of happiness into the lives of others. My voice alone will not drown out the bad, but together with other voices for good, it can help to lessen the influence of the bad voices in the world. 

If you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will succeed. Be brave and know that there are people to help you- all you have to do is ask. Sorry this post is so late ... but better late than never! 

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What are some of your goals for this year?

Be Brave

This song has been stuck in my head since like ... Thursday.  And I've thought a lot about it and I want to share it with you, dear readers. This song is called Brave, originally sung by Sara Bareilles.  This cover is by BYU Vocal Point.

When this song first started making it's rounds through my brain, I thought that I've never really had to be brave and bravery is just another word used to describe awesome people who do amazing things that could very easily backfire or not turn out so well.  The image that I usually think of is either a firemen diving into a blazing building to save the old woman trapped on the second floor or the soldier leaping from the fox hole with the image of his family burning in his mind.

But then I started thinking about the fact that it was Thanksgiving and I should be grateful for other's bravery.  And then I started coming up with all these wonderful examples of bravery that have allowed me to be where I am today.

In Search of Freedom
The pilgrims, obviously, are something we associate with Thanksgiving.  They wanted more than what England was offering them.  They acted on bravery to cross the Atlantic and settle the new world.  Many of them lost loved ones and many of them passed away.  But all of them were brave enough to leave what was familiar in favor of the unknown for the sake of a new world.

For King and Country
I've already mentioned the image of the soldier going to battle, but I truly am grateful for all of those brave men and women who serve their country.  Whether they're from the same country as me or not, to put the place you live before your own life is such a courageous act that it deserves to be mentioned twice.  In the future, there will come a day when we no longer need to defend ourselves from outsiders, but until that day comes, I'm grateful that we have valiant people who are there to answer the call to arms.

To Be the Example
It's so easy to just do what everyone else is doing, and so hard sometimes to do what you know to be right.  Goodness knows that there are countless examples out there of people who I am and am not familiar with who stand up for what they know to be right in the face of friends.  It reminds me of Neville from Harry Potter.  It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends.

For the Sake of Others
My mother's family is from Denmark.  One of my ancestors (an umpteenth-great grandmother) showed her bravery when she joined the LDS church and then journeyed to America to meet the Saints.  Her father disowned her and told her never to return after she was baptized.  She can't have known then how much her actions have affected my entire family.  She knew that the church was true and she knew what she needed to do because of it.  The threats of others didn't stop her from doing what she knew she needed to do and because of her, thousands have been blessed- all of her posterity and all they come in contact with have the opportunity to feel the joy that comes from the gospel of Christ.

For the Lack of Wisdom
Joseph Smith, a young boy of 14, desperately wanted to know which of all the religions of the day was right.  He was directed by James that if he lacked wisdom, he should ask of God and God would answer him.  He awoke one spring morning and bravely knelt in a clearing and asked the question he was seeking an answer to.  Boy did he receive an answer (click here).  After receiving that answer, he maintained that what had happened was true and he bravely refused to deny it throughout his life.  He brought forth The Book of Mormon.  He reestablished the Lord's church on the Earth as it was in the days of Christ.  Through him the ordinances of the gospel were restored.  He led the Saints from place to place, from persecution to persecution, while still never denying the Lord and His purposes.  And in the final days of his life, he was led to the place where he knew he would die, and with his brother he was martyred all for the sake of the gospel.  If that's not brave, then I don't know what is.

Bravery plays a very important part in shaping not only the world but also our daily lives.  Think about all the people from your family history.  If just one of them had decided to not do something instead of actually doing it or vice versa, how different would your life be today?  If instead of being brave they simply went with the flow and did nothing, how would your life be changed?

Everyone is brave.  For the soldier, brave is getting in that truck, or on that plane, or boat.  For the mother, brave is sticking with it on those hard days.  For the depressed soul, brave is getting out of bed and choosing to live another day.  For the lonely college student, brave is saying hi and speaking up.  For the small child, brave is saying goodbye for a few hours to go to kindergarten.  For the proud sibling, brave is saying you're sorry.  For the humble servant of the Lord, brave is saying yes no matter what He asks of you.

Everyone is brave.  Everyone has challenges they face, mountains they have to climb.  Brave is climbing those mountains.