26 December 2022 - 1 January 2023
Welcome to the new year! I find it so interesting that these past holidays and milestones have made me feel more like an adult than ever solely due to the lack of child-like excitement and expectation. Christmas was a wonderful day, truly, but it was also the least excited I've ever felt about Christmas, with little anticipation. I did not feel like celebrating on new year's eve and would have happily went to sleep by 10pm. Besides feeling a little tinge of sadness that my childhood days are over (even though they've technically been over for many years... haha), I am not disappointed or depressed about it, because I'm learning to enjoy and love each day as it comes. To not let my circumstances influence how I feel, but rather the focus of my current thoughts. I don't need to wait for a big holiday to be happy, and I don't need a holiday celebration to go perfectly to be happy. Those are just circumstances. Lately, I have been so -peaceful and content and grateful on a day-to-day basis, and that is worth so much more to me than pinning all my hopes of happiness onto a holiday that goes perfectly.
Okay, so now let's see what happened this past week... or should I say year? ;) I finished setting up my new laptop and bought Microsoft Office so I could have Word again. Yay. I also went to the gym in the mornings with my mom, Monday through Friday. Monday night, I went over to my friend Amber's house to paint nails and talk. I learned a bit more about her. I started watching Cobra Kai, which has been pretty good if you just watch it on your laptop with a profanity filter extension. Tuesday through Friday, I went to the temple each day. I did three initiatory sessioins and then an endowment session. I began feeling kind of moody and mad-at-the-world during the middle of the week (hinting at something soon to come... hooray...), and being in the temple really helped me feel calm and peaceful. On days where I felt like my life was useless (because I'm also on break from both school and work and have too much time on my hands that I'm squandering), it was nice to be able to say, "Well, at least I'm able to do ordinances with my physcial body in proxy for those who have already died and are waiting." That made me feel like my life had more meaning and I didn't feel so bad about "wasting" time. I also spent some hours painting, making progress on an old painting I'd started but never finished. On Friday afternoon, I played pickleball with my mom, sisters, and my mom's friend. My skills are definitly improving! Saturday morning, Val and I drove to the Tempe institute building to help set up for the New Year's Eve YSA party, which was kind of funny because people started turning to us for directions on how to decorate and what to do. We didn't know any more than them, but we had experience setting up and decorating for big events. It was a pretty fun and relaxed day. I made some snacks and got all the food out and ready for our family feast that evening. I bought lots of yummy things to try, like this cranberry cinnamon goat cheese that everyone loved. Then I got dolled up and went to the YSA dance with Valerie, where I had an unenjoyable time. I was just NOT feeling it. I wanted to be alone and be sleeping. But I showed up, and I looked very cute. Valerie did a fancy hair style on me. Fortunately, Val wasn't feeling it either, so we left to go home early, around 11pm. And wow, I slept in! Sunday morning, I woke up around 9:30am! Church has been moved back to 1:30pm this year, which isn't ideal because I'd rather have it earlier, but I was glad just this once. But it's weird having a later church time. It threw off my schedule. Well, this upcoming week, I start at my internship! I have a LOT to learn and know it will be stressful, so I am planning to include Christ in all of my goals: for school, work, internship, and hobbies. So far, my no-proccessed-sugars goal/challenge is going well.
I am going to have a set time every morning to read and study my scriptures: 6:30am. I am going to consult Christ about my internship clients and challenges. I am going to look for opportunities to be Christlike in my job. I'm going to trust in the Lord to help me manage my finances.
Much love,
Emily Burnham
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