Fear

As Franklin Roosevelt said, " the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself". This week  I  have been asked to do something great and terrifying at the same time...address my own fears. I was asked to address my fears about business in particular. If I would have been asked what I was afraid of in starting a business, I probably wouldn't have been able to give an answer...I didn't think I had any. But to my surprise, once I truly pondered this question, the fears could have poured out of me like hot syrup onto a pancake of truth. The act of externalizing each fear and finding a solution before it came to fruition is freeing. I feel more confident that I can avoid these unwanted circumstances, and even if I should be asked to face them that I would be prepared to do what was necessary to claw my way back to even. The most surprising, although it shouldn't have been, was to see that my family's future was my greatest fear. How would this affect us? I shouldn't have been surprised by this pattern, my family is the most important thing to me here, and in Eternity. And would there be a risk with taking no action? Every decision, weather the decision to act or not to act, have a risk or consequence. We can't stay in the same place, life is continually changing and moving on. I want to be proactive in my life and not let my inability to act be my choice! 

What to do...

To do, or not to do....that is the question. This week has made me think a lot about preparing to 

choose the right. Not only choosing the right, but actively preparing to recognize when I am 

choosing wrong. Setting up these boundaries now is a great tool that I don't think many people have had the opportunity to take advantage of. In the talk, "Choices" by James E. Faust, he said, 

"Elder Oaks had decided years before that he would never drink alcohol, and so in the moment of trial he did not have to make this choice again". This example is relative to how I feel this preparation will be for me in the business world. Choosing now what I will or will not do, before I am in those possibly hard situations, will help to define the right course. It may seem silly to prepare so early, but this also reminds me of a story from Elder Robert D. Hales. In his book "Return", he describes his flight teams month long preparation before a long flight. The preparation was tedious and may have seemed silly but in a desperate moment that training saved their life. To prepare before hand so you don;t have to question or wonder what to do in an invaluable asset in the gospel and in life. 

What Calling is Calling?

Last week I was concerned about realizing what talents could lead to potential callings. This week I felt very blessed to read the article "What Is Your Calling in Life?" by Jeffrey A. Thompson. He says that. "In fact, finding our calling in life involves the same process as discovering our spiritual gifts." This statement got me thinking about my patriarchal blessing, as everyone is told one of their "gifts" in their. As I considered that gift I felt that I too may very well fall into the category of talking/socializing as I was perplexed about in my last post. For this precise event Brother Thompson said, "As you consult your spiritual gifts, you may find that you don’t feel an urgent pull to practice medicine or educate children, for instance. Maybe instead you just like working with people. That is the most common thing I hear from students who are perplexed about what type of work they should do. If you think your spiritual gifts lie somewhere in that ambiguous area, I challenge you to delve much deeper into what your specific gifts are. How do you like working with people? Our strongest gifts tend to appear early in life, so it might help if you think back on your childhood and about how and what you played. " This was very helpful information and had me think back to my early childhood experiences with friends and peers. I was VERY shy and usually had only one good friend at any given time. I remember when I was in fifth grade I felt a desire to have more friends and began to use what I had learned from observing my peers for so many years(as many shy kids do), and implement those traits that people were drawn to. I was naturally good at reading and being aware of others feelings, and in response to those observations could create an environment that would help them be more comfortable. I was easy to get along with and peers who had a hard time fitting in else ware seemed drawn to my company. While never "popular" in the traditional sense I was able to go from having almost no friends to creating a friend network throughout many "clicks" or "groups" at my schools. From these pondering s I feel that my calling is coming into greater focus, although still not crystal clear. I want to use my ability to relate easily to others to help them somehow. I am excited to bring this vision into greater focus through my study at BYU-I!

After hearing the last lecture of Randy Pausch, he was able to accomplish his own childhood dream through persistence and belief in himself. His parents were supportive not only in his adult life but as a child they supported his creativity and dreams and let him paint on walls and truly express himself. These things contributed to his great success. As a child I wanted  to become a veterinarian, a love of animals and taking care of things led me to this. However as I grew I found many and varying areas that I was interested in and that has led me to where I am now. However I feel that if I had wanted to pursue my original goal, I would have been able to with the same support from my family like unto Pausch's. 

The start-up of me

This week has been a great motivational push to dream big, set goals, and make it happen! Through reading, "Living Life as an Entreprenrurial Hero" by Jeff Sandefer, I have been trying to really focus on my own talents. I am interested in so many things and easily tossed about on the waves of the latest ideas and trends. So this idea is very grounding and I feel will be a great influence to help me hone in on my "calling". As I thought on this subject a few thoughts came to mind. I have a desire to be organized, however the process of organizing can be tedious and unfulfilling.  Jeff points out that we should look for something, "where you lose track of the hours spent in it, and one where you would practice for the sake of practice alone." So in this spirit, I enjoy creating...painting, building, crafting. I also can lose myself when talking to others, I suppose I enjoy socializing, could this be a talent? I will have to continue to pay attention to the things I enjoy and what things come more easily to me as I go about my day to day activities.

I thought it was an important reminder and forewarning through much of the text, that failure happens. However, failure is not a sign that you should give up, but rather an opportunity to try again. Something to be accepted early on, some failure is imminent, but if we can have an attitude and characteristics developed to deal with everything not going "as planned" then it will be alright. It's how we deal with the failure that determines if it will sink our ship or simply change our course. Good to remember!