Saturday, October 8, 2011

These are a few of my favorite things...

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....ha ha, JUST kidding. But really, this post is about my favorite things and what a difference they can make in my life; this post will also be about YOUR favorite things and what a difference they can make in YOUR life when the going gets tough.

As of late, my life has been one ridiculous roller coaster of a ride after another, one confusing and constant maze of uncertainty and fear and it's been really, really hard on me. Some things have scared me so badly that I didn't really know what to do with myself except pray; really hard and almost constantly. And even then, it only got me so far. Its hard to describe a feeling where loneliness and fear of the unknown are almost constant companions and your Heavenly Father is the only person you have to really rely on, including people from your friends and family groups. It's a scary thing. BUT do you know what I've realized after something I experienced this morning? My favorite things make a difference, they really, really do. I popped in a live version of switchfoot's CD "Hello Hurricane" and instantly my black mood vanished, singing along as I applied my mascara.  And because of this beautiful experience, I've realized that to keep Satan at bay, and to make my life a WHOLE lot easier, I need to fill it with my favorite things, with things that are good for me spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally.

And so my good friends and loyal readers (whoever you are out there), this is not only my message to myself, but to you! I challenge you to make a list of your very most favorite things, no matter how ridiculous they are (even if that means singing a random hillbilly chase scene song while you drive, pretending to shoot people out your window with your fingers OR singing songs from The Lion King and Aladdin while you're shampooing your hair) and to look at that list of favorite things everytime you're having a tough time and to do at least ONE of those things on your list to make you feel better. If one or two just isn't doing it for you, plow right on through the whole dang list, if that's what it takes!

List of my favorite things:

1. Stuff that glitters.
2. Music from Switchfoot.
3. Arsenic and Old Lace.
4. Eat, Pray, Love By Elizabeth Gilbert
5. Making myself pretty!
6. Shopping.
7. Cooking a feast (Cooking pretty much ANYTHING I can get my hands on.)
8. Singing
9. Dancing
10. Acting.
11. Embroidery/sewing
12. Playing the violin (I still need to get that darn thing tuned!)
13. Dancing like crazy to random nineties music (Ex: Aqua, Backstreet Boys, etc.)
14. Musicals
15. Picnics
16. Piper Bernadette!
17. Hanging with my theatre buddies at BYU-Idaho (or any of my BYU-Idaho buddies for that matter. The theatre ones are just incredibly good for making me laugh!)
18. Foreign films.
19. New books.
20. Hot chocolate from Starbucks.
21. My nieces and nephews.
22. Disney movies.
23. Facebook skyping with Beck! We have awesome dance parties! (I can only imagine what people are thinking if they happen to walk in on us...)
24. Going to the movies or seeing live plays.
25. BABIES!
26. Having an intelligent conversation with someone.
27. Road trips!
28. Reading scriptures
29. Listening to talks by Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Holland.
30. Going to church (I really do honestly love this. i don't know what I would do without it! My singles ward is AWESOME!)
31. Talking to my sister and brother-in-law on the phone.
32. Yoghurt and granola. Seriously people, I could live FOREVER on this stuff!
33. Trying new recipes.
34. Singing Broadway musicals at the top of my lungs. (I suppose this COULD go under singing...)
35. Going on walks with my dog, Charlotte. (I honestly haven't done this in ages, but I really do love it. She's such a sweetie!)