When people ask what my blog is about, I always stumble over what to say... "uhm my life? sometimes church. sometimes doodling... I whine about dating?" Here's the truth though: my blog IS about life. Because sometimes church, sometimes doodling, and sometimes dating is, in fact, my life. One of my favorite things to write about is trials. I think a lot of the reason why is because writing about the challenges I'm going through in a way that is hopefully beneficial for someone else to read helps me to look at my challenges from a different perspective - one that helps me heal.
About a year ago, I wrote this post about trials. It was a particularly tough time in my life. I was eating poorly, losing a lot of weight, my sleeping schedule was not good, work was hard, and I just wanted to cry all the time. I grasped onto everything happy and hopeful for dear life. Figuring out how to ask for help was a battle in itself because a lot of what I was going through surrounded some dating stress that involved someone else's personal story and some feelings of my own that I didn't know how to process/wasn't ready to share with the people around me.
It's pretty cool to look back on that post now and see where I'm at a year later. How I healed from the tough things happening in my life then and how that helped me with tough things in my life now. I've come to believe that trials and challenges are a pretty important part of life. Looking back, I know I really grew in those harder moments. And I'm grateful for it now. I think the secret to life might have a lot to do with learning how to find joy during those challenging moments and recognizing how much good is always there, even in the hurt and the sorrow.
The Logan Temple is one of my favorite places to go when I'm feeling stressed or overwhelmed. Even just sitting in the parking lot helps me feel peace. Something about staring at this beautiful, castle-like building helps soothe my fears and calm my worries. One particularly stressful day, I stopped outside the temple for some peace. There were raindrops collecting on my window and I started taking pictures through the raindrops. Then, this picture happened and was worth 1000 words that I needed to learn/hear/feel that day.
The beauty of looking back is perspective. With a little perspective, it's easier to pick out the joy among the sorrow. It's easier to focus a little bit less on the hurt and a little more on the healing. I'm slowly learning that I don't have to look back to do that. Sometimes all it takes is stepping back. Because in reality, life is actually really good.
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