Different Flavors

A few weeks ago, I was feeling so over the internet. Everywhere I turned in the world of social media, there just seemed to be meanness, bitterness, bullying and arrogance. I am the type of person who really absorbs the energy of others too, so I try to be really careful about not only who I'm chilling with in person, but also about who is filling up my feed on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter. When I see someone on Facebook complaining a lot or posting really angry things, I've found there is nothing wrong with hiding their posts from my wall. I don't need their negative energy in my life. It's just silly.

I recently even thought about deleting my social media accounts, taking a hiatus, but then I thought, "No Kelsey, don't let the negative and angry people win. Don't let them rule the internet." So there's that. I'm still here, trying to send a little sliver of my own love and optimism into this (sometimes vicious) world wide web. That's the thing, while there are a lot of meanies on the internet, I also see a lot of love and goodness being spread around by people, and I adore that. But dude, the bullying and shaming has got to stop. It's crazy to me how cruel people will be when they can hide behind a computer or phone screen. The sad part is, I think a lot of bullies have built their confidence up so much while hiding behind a screen, that the bullying is even coming across in face-to-face interaction.

After deciding to stay on social media, I had to take a step back and look at myself. What kind of material was I posting on my own accounts? Could I be more positive? Was I being the bully sometimes? The answer to both of those questions is: yes. The thing is, we all get passionate about certain topics and we all want to believe that the way we do things is best. Maybe the way I do things is best for me, but I need to realize that it's not going to be best for everyone (and that's totally cool). I'm LDS. Being religious makes me feel happy and whole. Are my beliefs going to make everyone happy? Probably not. I'm an avid runner. If you don't run, does that make you stupid? No, that idea is stupid. I love animals and could play with them all day. If you don't like animals or you are allergic, does that automatically make you a jerk? No. I got married young. Should everyone get married young? Of course not.

I'm hearing talk all the time of being more "open-minded". The truth is, we live in a society where no one is truly open-minded. We don't know how to respect the opinions and lifestyles of others. We are turning into a people so concerned with being heard and respected that we are forgetting to listen and be respectful. Someone can live a different lifestyle than me and be happy. More so, someone can live a different lifestyle than me and be a super good person.

I really love ice cream. Like, I really love it. I love it so much that we even had Cold Stone Creamery at our wedding. My very favorite flavor at Cold Stone is Chocolate Devotion (chocolate freak over here). It's chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce, chocolate shavings, and brownie mixed in. YUM. Do I think every single person needs to order Chocolate Devotion just because it's my favorite? No! There are a lot of people who are not going to love eating that much chocolate. I get that. But it's still my favorite and it makes me the happiest. Sure, there are other flavors I like but there's nothing that hits the palate quite like Chocolate Devotion. On one occasion, I had a friend tell me how great Birthday Cake Remix was. I NEEDED to order it. Well, I try my best to be open-minded so I gave Birthday Cake Remix a shot. It was just okay. With every bite of cake batter though, I found myself wishing it was chocolate-flavored. So I didn't love Birthday Cake Remix. Guess what? I'm still friends with the girl who does love it. And she loves me even though I have an unhealthy obsession with chocolate.

 I realize that religious beliefs, political opinions and lifestyle choices are much more complex than ice cream flavors. But you know what's never complex? Kindness. We need more of that. We need less people worried about being right and more people worried about being kind.

I recently met another girl who was my same age (24). She didn't seem very happy with life, at least not to me, but maybe I was wrong. Who am I to judge? I was trying to be friendly, asking her questions about herself. In return, she was sort of rude. The only thing she asked me was this, "So you're only 24? Isn't that a little young to be married?" I really wanted to be snarky back and say, "Aren't you a little old to not have a job and be living with your parents still?" But I didn't say that . . . because I'm trying to practice this thing called choosing kindness. So I just smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm pretty young, but I'm also really happy."

It's amazing that you can go into an ice cream parlor and choose from a variety of flavors and toppings to make exactly what it is you are craving. Pick your flavor and enjoy it. Stop letting it melt away all over your filthy hand while you're busy judging what others choose to put in their own cone (or cup, because I'm not a huge ice cream cone fan).

Pondering

I should be in bed right now. Or at least showering. But I'm not because I'm too busy pondering. Brian and I are speaking in church tomorrow. Is it odd that I actually enjoy speaking in church? Probably. I'm odd. But I just love these opportunities because in the end, I feel like I learn so much about the topic I'm assigned to speak on. And most the time, the topic somehow seems to fit perfectly into my life, like it's something my Heavenly Father knows I need to gain a greater understanding of.

I am speaking on agency. And not to get all religious up on everybody, but here's a lovely quote I found regarding agency:

   “Agency allows us to be tested and tried to see whether or not we will endure to the end and return to our Heavenly Father with honor. Agency is the catalyst that leads us to express our inward spiritual desires in outward Christlike behavior. Agency permits us to make faithful, obedient choices that strengthen us so that we can lift and strengthen others. Agency used righteously allows light to dispel the darkness and enables us to live with joy and happiness in the present, look with faith to the future, even into the eternities, and not dwell on the things of the past. Our use of agency determines who we are and what we will be.”
               -Robert D. Hales


I hope I can always strive to exercise my agency in a way to bring myself closer to Christ and not push myself away, to strengthen and lift others and not tear others down, to spread light and not hide in the darkness. 


Guys, no matter what your beliefs are, I want you to know that our spirits are so powerful and can do so much good. You are beautiful.  

Truth Tuesday

• I saw my grandma in the hospital today. She had a hip replacement, and boy is she tough! She was in great spirits today, and I couldn't help but think about how a person's attitude can affect countless lives. Awesome for happy people. Terrible for miserable people. My grandma is a happy person and I always feel happy after spending time with her. That's a great gift that I hope I can portray also. I really am beginning to think that making others happy is one of the most important traits to develop. 

• Now that I'm a News 2 in my Newscast class, I've made it a personal goal of mine to do as much as I can to help the News 1s so they won't go home crying as many times as I did last semester. I feel like I've done pretty good thus far. We'll see if I keep it up. 

• My husband is great. He brought me dinner while I was editing a news package on campus tonight. And he vacuumed the house. And he brought me ice cream in bed. Goodness, I am spoiled. 

• It's a hard thing to watch people you love suffer. Whether that suffering is physical, or spiritual, or emotional. Suffering is impossible to avoid and it really stinks that most of the time, you can't do much to take away another person's suffering. This has just been on my mind lately. 

• I accidentally sent a text about my grandpa to a guy that I work with. Talk about awkward. The text was supposed to go to Brian, but it didn't. Luckily, the guy was cool about it. I really need to stop sending text messages to the wrong person. I do it on a weekly basis. Gotta keep things random, I guess. 

• I talk with my hands. Like I can't tell you how much I rely on body language while communicating with other humans. The other night, I called a bunch of high school seniors to tell them all the wondrous things about Utah State that they needed to hear (this was for my job, duh). And as I was sitting in a huge computer lab with other recruiters and student leaders who were all using skype to do phone calling, I realized I was waving my arms about like a mad woman. It's just . . .waving my hands around makes my voice more animated. And if I'm more animated then it's more likely to get kids excited about USU. So waving my hands about at a computer screen really is doing a lot of good. I promise. 

• And last but not even close to least, I'll leave you with this sweet little quote that is getting me through this busy bee week. Perhaps one day when I have an important job, I'll hang it in my office space, or creative nook. I like creative nook better. Here it is: 

Source: society6.com via Kelsey on Pinterest