Where Do I Fit?

BYU—home to 35,000 students; some of the brightest, most motivated, and most talented people in the world.

So where do I fit in?

It’s my second year here at Brigham Young University and I’m starting to realize one of the underlying reasons to why it is such a difficult school to go to…

In high school I was never Homecoming Queen, or voted best eyes; best dressed; or cutest couple. I didn’t date any of the “hot boys” that all the girls wanted. But I still had a few things going for me; I was smart and got great grades, and I had a quirky fun-loving personality that made me stand out against the crowd. I wasn’t afraid to be myself and do what I love to do because I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. It was personality that got me through the rough days of high school. As for college…it’s a whole new story!

Here at BYU there are so many people; there is always someone skinnier than you, prettier than you, smarter than you, more talented than you, and to top it off they all have your fun-loving personality too. I’m no longer the front runner in any category.

This reality has made things difficult for me and I’ve had a rough time making friends and being social…that’s when something a good friend of mine told me hit me on the head with the force of a freight train.

“Those who love themselves are the ones who are capable of anything in this world.”

I grabbed on to this idea with all my might. It is now written as a note on my desktop as well as a note hanging on my wall; it will be a constant reminder to remember who I am and that I matter. Because when you believe you matter, you change the world.

I know I have hard times up ahead as I lose the one constant thing in my life and as I continue to watch friends get engaged, married, and move on with their lives. But I’m determined to change my point of view; I want to be capable of anything, so I will love myself and let nothing else get in the way. I will no longer allow myself to worry that others are better than me; I’m going to live my life with a new perspective.

As Dr. Seuss said, “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

Red Tails (movie review)

It was better than I thought…Red Tails; a movie about a group of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program ended up taking me by surprise. I went into the movie expecting to see some kind of documentary about how African Americans had to battle with officials in order to actually fight and fly in World War II, but it was much more than that. Red Tails was full of humor and a fun-loving brotherly relationship between each of the members of the Tuskegee crew. 

Being that it was based on a true story, some of the things the white people in the movie did shocked me. Their reasoning behind why the Tuskegee group couldn’t be fighter pilots was ridiculous…black men don’t have the reflexes or the smarts to fight off other planes, let alone fly one. Ouch! And as we know now…so not true. 

I couldn’t help but have a sense of pride as the Tuskegee crew was able to prove each of the men opposed to them wrong. At the same time they made friends with the bomber pilots that they were told to protect and proved to all the other white men in the army that they could handle being fighter pilots better than anyone else could. 

My only complaint? A tad long…a little over two hours is a little over my attention span ;) But if you can handle sitting a little longer than I can, Red Tails is a thumbs up movie!

2012 New Year's Resolutions

As it is per custom at this time of a year to make a resolution to hold on to and work on for the rest of the year I have decided that I will follow suite and make a few myself. 

1.       BE MORE SOCIAL…I’ve grown up with a family who doesn’t tend to socialize very frequently and I think I’ve become accustomed to this style of living. Now that I live on my own at college I’ve come to find that while I have an outgoing personality when I am with others, I am very rarely actually with other people. This year I have decided to change that and attempt to be a more social person so that I can meet some new people and acquire more friends.

2.       EMBRACE THE AWKWARDNESS…as a good friend of mine always says in a joking matter during times when we’re not sure what we’re supposed to do next, embrace the awkwardness. While the quote is said in a somewhat sarcastic manner, the more I think about the concept behind doing so the more the saying makes sense. Embrace the awkwardness and it’s no longer awkward. This one might be tough for me seeing as I tend to be a tad awkward myself most of the time, but I think if I’m able to overcome it it’ll be a good addition to my personality.
 
3.       TAKE MORE PICTURES...here I am dreaming of becoming a photojournalist and I don’t take nearly the amount of pictures I should. I have decided to make the commitment to take more pictures this year; document my new social side. I think why I haven’t done this as much in the past is that I’m so focused on making my pictures be perfect and awe-inspiring meaning that to do so I have to use my nice Nikon and then I have to edit them and make sure they’re perfect before sharing them with anyone else. Not this year! I’m all about the camera phone, handheld digital, or whatever I’ve got my hands on.

I must admit that I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions, but for some reason I had these great ideas come to me and I knew that if I didn’t share them with the world I probably would follow through. So here they are world my 2012 New Year’s resolutions!