Hmm… so it looks like I have not blogged for a while. I will try to improve this. I have had a busy semester but unfortunately
it has not included my camera. I have
done so many things this semester when I thought oh I should take a picture of
this, but then alas I realize my camera is sitting in my closet at home. So then I try to take a picture with my
camera phone, but since I don’t have an iphone (see Ghana) the picture quality is not that great. And without awesome pictures to share, I have
little motivation to blog. So I have not
blogged this semester but I figure it is time to catch up.
August started off with Leli and I going to Washington D.C.
it was tons of fun, I am glad Leli came out and played with me. (I do have
pictures of this) Leli and I received
Jr. Ranger badges at all of the national monuments and parks we went to…when
the ranger was willing we recorded the swearing in process.
After Leli flew back home, I went and cleaned out my house
since my renter broke their lease and left….I don’t enjoy being a
landlord. Then I flew out to Utah just
three days behind Leli. Kelley picked
me up at the airport in my car (which I missed terribly) Kelley had been living
in my apartment for the summer while she attended summer term at BYU. We then drove up to Ann’s house and went
camping the next day up in the Uinta’s it was beautiful and so much fun. I might have a picture of that too.
Then I drove down to Provo, and started running again,
because it was time for the Grand Teton Relay.
This was my first relay and I loved it.
It was so much fun. I didn’t
sleep a lot, but my teammates made the experience one of the highlights of my
summer.
After the awesome race I went back down to Provo to help
with the MPA student orientation. The
final part of the orientation included a white water rafting trip on the Snake
River, so for the second weekend in a row I drove up to Wyoming and slept under
the stars.
It was finally time for school to start and I had signed up
for 18 credits, plus I was going to work 20 hours. I quickly started to miss the slow simple
pace of my summer. I really enjoyed
having a summer off and having time to think.
It was painful to see my life get busy again. So after following the counsel from some wise
friends I started to simplify my life.
September was a month of cutting back. By the end of September I was taking just 9
credits, and I was much happier with my life (I had to keep my jobs since I
still had not managed to rent my house yet, so I had a mortgage to pay!) Luckily because I took such a heavy course
load last semester, and took a spring term, having a lighter semester did not
have any influence on graduating in April.
So everything worked out.
This semester I have thought a lot about time and how we choose
to spend it. Yesterday I had a good
conversation with my mom about how it is often difficult for women especially
to figure out how to best use their time.
Because there are so many opportunities available and so many ways to do
good, it is often hard to decide what to do.
I think this is a problem men face too, but I don’t think they are as
susceptible to over-committing themselves as women, (I am reading some books on
the male and female brain that explains why this is the case, but that is for
another blog post J
) The point is women often have a hard
time choosing the best things, from all of the good things we have to do.
I know I run into this problem, and it is honestly because I
like helping people. I help someone with
something and then suddenly find myself in the thick of things running the
project! And I am often surprised that I
am even in situation. So I have been
working really hard to choose the best things in my life and focus on those
things, and letting everything else go.
It has been a painful semester as I have let some things go that I was
really interested in, but it has also been an awesome semester because I have
found myself doing things that I really enjoy, and have not had time for before
because my life was so busy.
I am looking forward
to my final semester because I have made a promise to myself to not take on any
new projects, and to just finish the ones that I am currently committed to, and
I get to give up one of my jobs! (Which is fine, because I finally got a renter
in my house too!!!) I am looking forward
to getting comfortable to this slower pace, and really focusing on the best
things for me!
