I read something today that posed the question, "What makes you happy?" It didn't take long for me to decide that one thing that makes me happy is writing. I've neglected my blog for far too long, and in an effort to go about making some change in my life, I've realized I need to write regularly {regardless of how many comments it generates} in order to keep myself grounded.
As I begin to reground myself and share the changes I've made and hope to make, I hope I haven't lost too many readers and that you and I can learn and grow from each other.
To begin, I'm going back to what inspired me to begin this blog in the first place. This video is based off of a talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf during the Relief Society General Meeting in October 2008 of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I heard this talk during my first pregnancy and its message helped me significantly as I struggled with my new identity as a mother.
I love YouTube. I've never actually uploaded a video myself, but I have received countless good times while watching random videos that completely random people have made.
One thing that just blows my mind about YouTube is that people become famous from it. They become rich from it. It's insane.
If I knew that NOT knowing the answer to this question would make me famous, I would've stopped learning years ago!
Who knew having such an affinity for rainbows was so funny?
I don't know where I'd be if I couldn't watch this masterpiece with just a few clicks of a button.
And I'm pretty sure all of Britain was put to shame the minute this woman began to sing.
Let's face it, the world is a better place now that we have YouTube.
Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but let's just pretend it's true for today.
Next week is the two year anniversary of my thought blog. To celebrate, I'm going to share the video that inspired me to start it in the first place. I know I've posted it at least two other times, but I just love it and can't imagine anyone else not being inspired by it's simple, yet profound message.
This blog serves a great purpose for me in my life. It is my creative outlet. I often lose track of the basic reason for this blog, and that is to write and to express myself. It's not about giveaways, having a huge following or even making money. I've noticed that when I divert my attention from what this blog really is, I'm less satisfied with the result. But, when I'm true to myself and write about things I love {even when they don't generate a lot of comments or attention}, I'm overall much more content.
Thanks to all of you for your comments and support. It has really had an impact on my ability to CREATE.
P.S. For anyone who is interested, this video is based off of a talk that can be read here.
Learn more about my faith here.
"His name is Toofer because with him you get a two-for-one; a black guy and a Harvard guy."
-Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
I grew up in Salt Lake City. I traveled enough to know that Salt Lake was probably not considered a big city, at least not when compared to New York, Chicago or LA.
In late 2006, I moved to Idaho Falls. I grew up visiting Idaho Falls a lot since my grandparents lived there. As a child, I loved Idaho Falls. I spent most of my Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays there. It always had a special feeling to it.
I just assumed I would enjoy living there. And I did for the most part.
But, as the years went on, I started to feel like I was suffocating. It dawned on me that I lived in a small town and I didn't like it. I especially didn't like feeling as though I was downtown New York whenever I would visit Utah and walk the streets of Salt Lake. I knew for sure I was in a small town if Salt Lake seemed HUGE to me.
After 3.5 years in Idaho, we decided to move back to Utah. Besides wanting to be close to family, we wanted to have access to more things - concerts, plays, sporting events, an international airport, etc.
We've been back in Utah for 6 months now, and I've tried to take advantage of all the many more things I can do in Salt Lake than I could in Idaho Falls. One of which was last night.
It all started when I logged onto Twitter on Tuesday. I'm not a huge Twitter fan, but I created an account just to see what all the buzz was about. Anyway, whenever I log in, I see tweets from Joshua Radin, one of my favorite musicians. He said he was going to be in Salt Lake on March 2nd.
I immediately went into overdrive. How did I not hear about this concert sooner? Was it sold out? I had to get tickets! To make a long story short, I bought 2 tickets (one of me, one of my husband) an hour later. I was so excited. This would be my first concert since 2005.
But then I started to feel guilty. Would our daughter, "I" be good with a sitter? Could we really afford to do this? Maybe we shouldn't go.
I shoved all those thoughts aside, realized this was someone I always wanted to see in concert and to just enjoy the opportunity.
When we got to the concert (and remembered I forgot my good camera), I walked through the doors and I immediately flash backed to my days as a high schooler/young college student. I used to go to concerts all the time with my friends and being back in that environment, the loud music, the shirts and posters for sale, etc., brought back all the fun memories. I wasn't expecting to feel that way, but I loved it.
The concert was amazing. There weren't any seats, everyone just stood around. It was a rather small venue and the stage was really close to the floor. It was a lot more intimate than what I imagine a Lady Gaga concert would be like.
When Joshua Radin came onto the stage the crowd cheered and screamed. I managed to find the perfect spot to stand where I could see his face and upper body perfectly. He played so well, he played some of his new stuff, but also a lot of his old stuff. It was awesome! He even played a song that I put to a video I made about my daughter....which almost made me cry.
As we left the concert, I told my husband how happy I was that we went. We reminded each other that this was why we moved back to Utah - for more opportunities. And, to top it all off, I was reminded of my good ol' days with my friends. It was definitely a two-for-one night. Here's a video of one of his encore songs, Winter.
For any of you that haven't heard any of Joshua Radin's music, here's a video. This was one of the first songs I heard by him. Enjoy! And when you're done, go out and do something new.
"Everyone can create. You don't need money, position or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty."
-President Dieter F. Utchdorf
Today's thought was inspired by this video, which was put together by the LDS (Mormon) church. It was compiled from a talk given by one of the leaders of the LDS church, Dieter F. Utchdorf. You can read the entire talk here.
I am LDS. I know religion can be a touchy subject, but I absolutely love this video. I believe it has such a great message that is applicable to anyone regardless of religious affiliation.
In addition to this post, this video inspired my blog. In fact, my blog description "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul," is from this President Utchdorf's talk.
I hope you enjoy it!
I think the words create and creativity are often confused with being crafty or artsy. For example, you're only creative if you can put together a great scrapbook, if you are an excellent photographer or have written your own novel. Because I so often view creativity or creating this way, I often feel like I'm lacking in a big way.
But, then I thought I should define it differently. After all, one technical term of the word create is "to bring into exsistence." That really opens up what being creative means, which makes me feel better. Maybe I'll create a new friendship, create a happier day by being more positive, create a stronger family unit by always making sure my husband, daughter and I have dinner together. The possibilities are endless.
