As excited as i am to graduate an start my new adventure in college,
I sure am terrified.
So many questions run through my head each day..
Like how am i gonna pay for school?
Shoot. How am i gonna pay for all my gluten free food!
What am declaring as my major?
And the the list goes on and on.
But the past few days have been a whole new set of thoughts.
I will for sure be going to BYU-Idaho in the fall!
I got onto the fall/spring track, so school starts on september 16, 2013.
Crazy right?? I think so.
I truly believe that no one can emotionally and mentally
prepare you for your senior year of high school.
For me, it has been more physically, mentally and emotionally challenging
than any other year of school.
But the past few days as I accepted to BYU-I,
I realized that graduation is coming FAST.
Graduation announcements came in and were available for pick up during both lunches,
auditions to sing at graduation were two weeks ago.
And we're beginning to talk about specific dates for certain events.
But more importantly, I wanna talk about how my outlook on things like this
were changed.
All because of one school assembly.
A week or so ago, DCC had a motivational speaker come talk to us.
Laymon Hicks has a way of communicating with high school students on their level.
He doesn't just stand up there telling people to be better,
he told his story, and as he did he encouraged us to be better people.
His story is incredible and so many of us in the audience could relate to him.
And in so many different ways.
I am positive that everybody was touched in some way or another.
He talked about never failing to let the people in our lives know how much we love them.
He had us all close our eyes and think about the people in our lives,
and to think of someone in particular that we may have not said "I love you" to recently.
And when we opened our eyes,
he told us to take out our phones and to text the person.
The past few weeks have been really busy and I realized that I have let
things get in the way of the people I love most in my life.
Carissa and I play phone tag every time we try to talk,
my dad and I are hardly ever home at the same time.
Emily is working 2 jobs,
and Sarah has been gone for a month doing college auditions.
While they are all busy,
I have an absolutely crazy schedule too.
If I'm not at school, I'm at rehearsal, or work.
When I'm at home, I'm sleeping because I'm completely exhausted from school rehearsal and work.
But listening to Layman talk,
I realized that I just can't afford to let days and especially weeks go by
without sitting down for an hour or so with those that I care so much about.
It's not hard to call them up to talk or to go grab some Starbucks.
So that is a new goal of mine, to never let those that I care most about forget how much I love them.
It's also a two way street,
sometimes we need to make sacrifices for the ones we love.
Sometimes I need to sacrifice an hour of homework or sleep to spend time with them.
What sacrifices do you need to make?
Laymon said "good things do not come to those who wait".
He told us that if there was something we wanted
and we wanted it badly enough, we needed to
"GET UP. GET OUT. AND GO GET IT."
We should all do that.
We all see other people doing great things, like going to the Olympics
or getting a great job promotion or someone looses "X" amount of weight.
Too often, we find ourselves saying, "man, I wish I could do something like that.."
We'll guess what, you can!
He told us a story about a time when he was going to a leadership conference
and he had gotten a brand new suit.
When he arrived at the retreat,
they told him they were going to the beach.
[He told us that he absolutely hates the beach]
But there he was, at the beach. In his brand new suit.
And while talking to students he felt something hit his arm
and as he looked down at it
he saw that it was bird poop.
On his Brand. New. Suit.
(Of course he tells this story much better and its absolutely hilarious!)
But as a side note he told us that earlier he had seen a young man with a long sleeve shirt on and
he thought, who wears a long sleeve shirt to the beach?!
But then he remembered that he was wearing a suit, so he really
had no place to judge!
He had talked to this young man earlier but when he was pooped on
he was talking with another group of people.
Laymon went on to say how mad he was about the whole thing.
He was furious. He hates the beach,
and somehow he got himself into spending the day there,
in a brand new suit.
But after a few minutes of being angry he wiped his sleeve off
and remembered that he was there for the students.
To be talking with and motivate the students.
So he continued on his "mission", his reason for being there.
At the end of the day, he saw the young man with the long sleeves again
and pointed to him and said something along the lines of,
"Hey! You can do it man!"
Later that evening he got an email from the young man with long sleeves,
thanking him for saying that he could do it and for encouraging him, etc.
As he read on,
the guy explained that he was wearing long sleeves because he was trying to hide the cuts on his arms.
The young man was trying to kill himself the night before.
But he decided that he would go to this one last retreat the next day.
In the email, he went explaining that no one has ever told him
that he could do something,
or be someone or go anywhere.
No one had ever encouraged him.
He thanked Laymon for saving his life that day.
So after telling us that story, Laymon went back to the bird that pooped on his arm,
and talked about how much of a distraction that was.
He was so caught up in the whole thing that it took him from what he was really supposed to be
doing that day, which was talking with all of those kids.
He said that if he let that take over the rest of his day,
he would not have said anything to that young man with the long sleeves.
Laymon then asked us,
what kind of birds (distractions) we had in our own lives.
And now I wanna share that same question with you.
What kind of birds are in your life that keep you from doing the things that we are supposed to be doing?
And though, we may never be put in a situation as extreme as savings someones life,
we cannot lose focus of what we are supposed to be doing.
Everyone has birds in their life.
For some it might be media, others it could be friends, and for some it may even be family.
Sometimes, although it may be hard, the best thing for us is to get rid of those birds
and to focus on what we are supposed to be doing.
To focus on our mission.
One last thing that I really loved that Laymon said,
was that he always wanted to be an author
but his mother continually shot him down.
She would tell him that he would never be an author.
He now has multiple books published.
He taught that no matter what people tell you,
no matter how many times your told that you cant do it,
it can never stop you from achieving your dreams
and being "THE BOMB.COM"
Like Laymon, I have always wanted to write a book.
But I have realized that,
as cheesy as it sounds,
I already am.
Im writing my story here.
I am the author, and even though its small,
and not many read my blog,
it makes me feel like a part of something bigger.
I may be nervous to leave home and go to college in the fall,
that's not gonna stop me from anything. I am gonna
"GET UP. GET OUT. AND GO GET IT."
Because I am "THE BOMB.COM"
And nobody can take that away from me.
A special thank you Laymon Hicks for coming to DCC and spending
the morning with us. Keep doin what your doin! Because you are changing lives.
God Bless.
