eat your heart out challenge - intro

Hello Everyone!

I know it’s been a super long time since I’ve last written on this blog, mainly due to the craziness of my first year of college, but also because I started a separate blog for an English class and didn’t want to be writing on two different sites!  Anyway, I’ve decided to resurrect this blog and use it as accountability for a new challenge I’ve given myself, while also getting back to writing and documenting my life a little bit!  So here it goes!

Making sure to stay healthy is extremely important for everyone, but since I am a dance major in school and dance is a huge part of my life, it is even more necessary to take care of myself, so that I am staying healthy and strong.  During the school year, this was the least of my concerns.  With the workload of two majors, working right after my classes, and a million other responsibilities, eating right was not a priority.  I have begun to notice, especially now that school is over, that I’ve definitely gained close to the "freshman 15" and I do not feel well a lot of the time.  (I do have some health issues that I have no control over, which may be a big factor in not feeling the greatest, but I do know that I would feel a lot better if I made healthier choices.)  I am performing in Hershey, PA in less than a month and swimsuit season is just around the corner, so I need to start making some changes so that I can look and feel my best! I wanted to find a way to shed some weight quickly in the safest and healthiest way possible, so after doing some Pinterest and Google research, I came across the “Eat Your Heart Out – Lose 10 pounds in 7 Days” challenge!  Well, technically it’s a diet, but I’d rather use the word challenge because I feel as though diets never really work out for me and my competitive side will be more willing beat a challenge than stick to a diet (haha).  This is a doctor and dietician approved weight loss system that limits you to a strict list of foods that I will eat each day for the week, and the best thing is that I can eat as much of these foods as I feel my body needs – so no need to starve!  I have read many reviews to see if this is just a gimmick, but almost everyone who has tried it says that they lost weight, felt better, and had clearer skin after following this plan, so I, along with my sister, Abigail are trying it out! 

Every day I will stick to the plan, workout, and share about my day and my progress with you in this blog.  I will also take a picture of my body on the first and last days of the challenge to see if there are any changes from start to finish! 

This is what the diet will look like (taken off of Pinterest):

Here’s to starting good habits, getting healthier, and accomplishing goals!

stories

It’s 1:30am and I’m itching to write.  It’s been a while since I’ve last written, mostly because I have no idea what to say.  I have all of these thoughts bouncing around in my head, but none of them are complete, so I’m hoping that I’ve made a few coherent sentences once I’ve finished this.  If not, oh well, I guess, not many people will read this anyway. 

A lot has happened since my last post.  I danced in my last dance recital as a graduating Senior and then graduated high school, my braces are gone, I spent my summer working at camp,  I’ve made new friends, I have a new job.  There have been a lot of new things in such a small amount of time.  It seems silly that your life is supposed to completely change all of a sudden just because you’re not in school anymore.  I’m really just trying to learn how to take it all in and figure this whole thing out.   I have a feeling it’s going to take a while before I even sort of have a grip on life, but that’s cool with me; I like exploring this new unknown territory of “adulthood”… if you can even call it that.

If you ask me what I think is the most important thing I’ve learned in this past year, it’s that life is like a book of short stories – all the small stories are what contribute to creating one big incredible book.  I know, the whole idea sounds kind of cliché.  I’ve just realized that, a lot of the time, we are waiting for that one big thing to happen that will define us and make our life “good” and I’m not really sure if that is the right way to go about life.  Whether it’s graduating high school, going to college, traveling, starting a business, getting married, or having kids, I’m starting to see that if we are constantly waiting for that one huge moment to happen, it’s causing us to miss so many amazing little things happening every day.  We are missing the “good life” by ignoring it while it happens around us every day. Or at least I am.  It’s not bad to be excited for the future and to have hopes and dreams, but I’m seeing that taking every opportunity to make memories, so we can look back on them later with a smile, is what makes up a “good life.”  I’ve always lived waiting for the day I can make memories instead of realizing that now is my time to make them because we aren’t promised tomorrow.  This is the “good life.”

“Here's the truth about telling stories with your life. It's going to sound like a great idea, and you're going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you're not going to want to do it. It's like that with writing books, and it's like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.” – A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

One of my favorite movie quotes is, “You're supposed to be the leading lady of your own life!”  The leading lady doesn’t wait for excitement to come to her, she chases after it!  She takes any chance she can get to make memories, good or bad.  I want this story of mine to be a good one, not one where the main character sits around waiting for things to happen or one where she is offered opportunities, but says no for fear that something better might come about.  When I’m older I want to reread my story over and over again with a smile and a giggle.  I want it to be one of my favorites –

next to Pride and Prejudice and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Not only do I want to like my story, but I want the Lord to like it too.  He’s given me this life like the master gave his servant a bag of silver to take care of.  Instead of investing in it and making it grow, he hid it away and it stayed just as it was – boring.  I don’t want to sit by idly while life goes on around me, doing nothing with this life I’ve been given, and ending up disappointing my Master like the servant did.  I want the Lord to be happy that He entrusted this life to me… I want Him to be pleased with my story.

I could go on and on, pouring all of my sleepy, incoherent thoughts out onto the page for you to read, but I’ll leave you with this quote from one of the books I’ve read recently.  It basically sums up everything I’m thinking, just probably in a more coherent way than I was able to express above.

 “I don't wonder anymore what I'll tell God when I go to heaven when we sit in the chairs under the tree, outside the city… I'll tell these things to God, and He'll laugh, I think and He'll remind me of the parts I forgot, the parts that were His favorite. We'll sit and remember my story together, and then He'll stand and put His arms around me and say, "Well done," and that He liked my story. And my soul won't be thirsty anymore.” – A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

oh me, of little faith

Over the course of these past few months I have learned a lot about trust in the Lord.  I “trusted” that He would work a situation out for me and then I would still dwell on that situation in worry trying to think of anything I could possibly do to make it work out of my own power.  I “trusted” that God would supply certain needs, but still felt insecure that maybe He wouldn’t provide what I needed exactly when I needed it.  That’s not really “trusting the Lord with all your heart” (see Proverbs 3:5-6).  Anxiety played a big part in my relationship with God because He’s not the type to shout His plan at you, He quietly shows you along the way how He has each area of your life under control, subtly guiding you where you need to go.  I would rather He just tell me straight up what’s going on because I’d be a lot less worrisome, but that’s not how He works most of the time and I just have to deal with it.  He wants me to realize that I am His child. He wants me to fearlessly jump into His arms the way I jumped into my worldly father’s arms when I was younger, KNOWING that he would catch me.  He doesn’t just want us to TELL ourselves that He will catch us, but still hold on for fear of falling, He wants us to KNOW and BELIEVE that He has His arms wide open ready for us to let go and drop into His strong embrace. 

It’s May and my last full month of high school (which is utterly ridiculous).  I’ve gone through waves with my trust in God when it came to what I planned to do after school.  At one point I refused to make any decisions because my fear of the unknown crippled me and I SAID I trusted Him, but I really didn’t.  At another point I decided in my mind (even though I never would have admitted it to myself) that I would take the Lord and trust in Him out of it entirely and decided I was going to take the whole situation into my own hands.  Go to the exact college I wanted and major in exactly what I felt like majoring in no matter how many loans or debts I would acquire.  When I realized that’s not a great idea, I came to the point where I decided I’d sit here and not do anything until the Lord told me as clear as day what exactly I’m supposed to do.  That didn’t work either.  I was fooled into thinking that I had faith in the Lord. Then one day I realized, “gee, if God created the whole Earth, everything in it, and something as complicated as the human body, why wouldn’t He be able to figure out my life for me?”  This just made me realize that I am a silly human.  Why would I doubt the God that shut the mouths of lions to save Daniel and gave Moses the power to part the sea? God has never failed me before, so why should I have any reason to think He will leave me hanging in the future?  He doesn’t promise that He will always be there for us and then secretly expect us to handle everything on our own.  Just because I’m starting to get older and have to make real life decisions doesn’t mean God said, “Oh Emily, since you’re 18 and you’re considered a legal adult by the U.S. government, I’m gonna leave the rest of this up to you! Have a nice life!”  That’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but when I look back I kind of felt that was true when that’s not what He says at all.  He says that if I acknowledge Him and want to live my life according to His will that He will make my paths straight.  A pretty big weight was lifted off my shoulders when I decided to actually live by this promise.   

I’m not saying that I’m perfect at trusting the Lord now, but my trust in Him is more complete than it was before when I had a skewed idea of trust in Him.  I’m not going to refuse to make decision and expect Him to make everything happen for me.  I’m not going to take control and cut Him out.  I’m just going to seek His will for my life and take the opportunities He opens up for me.  Stress a little less and trust a little more.  

South Africa will always have my heart

     One time I went to South Africa… in May of 2011 to be exact.  My dad believed I was far too young to travel out of Pennsylvania without him, never mind fly to Africa… on the other side of the world… so I decided I wouldn't go.  Then eventually somehow I convinced him things would be okay and I was on a plane to Johannesburg before I knew it!  It’s kind of crazy to look back and to think that I’ve been to South Africa.  I don’t think my under developed (not that it's fully developed at all yet =P ) brain actually processed the fact that I was even out of the country at all and I think I’m more excited about it now than I was then.  It was a seriously life changing experience... I met loving people... and people that I didn't know would still be my friend today.  I saw the love of Jesus in little childrens' eyes like I have never seen before.  There's just no way to truly show or tell how amazing it was.  I’m not really going to explain much of what I experienced  because I might  do that later, but for now I’ve decided to just share some pictures and take you down memory lane with me(:

p.s. I apologize for poor quality of photos, as I didn't have a great camera (Aaarrgghh! I will never leave the country again without a decent camera!) 

i tried sushi

                I'm a little late on the whole New Year's resolution thing, but I've decided to dedicate 2014 to trying new things.  Doesn't sound very original or exciting, but it has already made a big difference in my life!  So far this year I have tried sushi (which I've always been a bit afraid of), started a blog, surpassed my high score of 3 in Flappy Bird (haha) and said yes to multiple opportunities that, in the past, I would've hesitated about agreeing to.  I'm reading new (and old) books, I'm opening myself up to new ideas and knowledge about life and the world and the Bible,  I want to learn more and know more and I don't want to miss out on anything that God has in store for me.  How will I ever experience His amazing plan if I never open myself up to all of the wonderful things and people and places He has placed in this world around me?

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"  (2 Corinthians 5:17) How exciting is that?!  I feel like putting together a party in celebration of this verse because it's such an amazing thing... God has made me NEW!  The old has GONE, the new has COME!  It inspires me to stop living my life the safe way and start getting out there and experiencing all there is to offer.  Yes, this could lead to scary or intimidating situations (not life threatening or anything, I'm not ready to be that adventurous yet haha), but I feel like so many good things and beautiful moments will come out of it, as well.

So here's to living my 18th year of life with the mindset of being open to anything and everything the Lord has to offer.  I know that it won't always be easy, but it will definitely be amazing (:

sometimes good things start with procrastination

           As I sit here awaiting my online English class, the thought of starting a blog has popped into my head for the millionth time and (after many doubts) I’ve decided to follow through, so I’ve become one of “those people” with a blog.  I feel as though, since I’ve become a senior, I have been stuck in this place of not knowing what to do with my life, so I’ve stopped making decisions for fear of making the wrong one.  This is definitely not a good thing, so to get out of my comfort zone and take some action in my life, I’m saying yes to this blog as a beginning to the vast number of decisions that are yet to be made within the near future.  It’s a very silly and pointless decision that doesn’t have much of an effect on my life, but I have to start somewhere, right?  Yes, I could be finishing papers that I have to write, studying French, cleaning something, organizing something, or finding some sort of worth-while project to do with my time, but why be productive when I could sit here and write out my very mundane thoughts and ideas?

I’m not exactly sure what I will be writing here, or when I will be writing it.  I may write every week, I may write once every two months.  It’s not like you really care anyway, right?  This is all just for fun, I have no vision or set topic, I’m just going to write when and what I want to write.  It could be as serious as my thoughts on a current event or issue in society, as silly as what I had for lunch that day, or as simple as something that made me smile.  I’m not looking for a large following or a fan-base or anything silly like that, I simply want to write.

Senior year is kind of a big deal.  It almost feels as though my life is just about to start and lots of things will be happening.  I’m not sure about anything that’s going to be happening in the near future, whether it be college, work, etc., the only thing that I’m sure of is that the Lord will be walking me through it all along the way and it will be an incredible journey no matter what He has in store for me. I figured writing through my thoughts and the things I experience over this new period in my life will be interesting to look back on when I’m older and possibly entertaining for a few of you out there.  So, to the few people (or one person) that is reading this, welcome to this new journey in my life… I appreciate the support (:

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