No Fear?

"Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." 
-Mary Anne Rachmacher

I love this idea already and I haven't even read through the blog. This girl on randomthoughtsbybloggerette.blogspot.com thought about doing a challenge and doing things that scared her daily. From the last post that wrapped everything up, it sounded pretty awesome, and I hope I can say the same things someday. This is just a little part of it:

"I've learned to stand up for myself and ask questions, even the hard ones. I've learned that dreams are limitless, and that the best friends are sometimes the quiet ones just waiting in the background for their opportunity to cheer you on and lift you up. Hugs heal and blogging, just like training puppies, is some of the cheapest therapy ever. I learned that saying no is not a bad thing and that taking time for yourself and doing absolutely nothing is okay!"

Then she followed it with some of her favorite pictures from her year's experiences. 

When I read this, one of my first reactions was to show it to my older brother who would eat it up. But then I thought better of it... I don't think he needs ANY encouraging to do something crazy. We're talking the kid that bought a "one-way-ticket" to China for a few months (not weeks, months), and couch-surfed on a random guy's couch until he could get an apartment. 

Also the same person that is co-founding a business called grasswire.com and is taking off to San Fransisco this summer to get that going. That doesn't sound so crazy until I tell you he's going there to live in a car. Yes, my friends, a car. San Fran's renting fees aren't as nice as little Utah's, and "Why pay the expense when you could just live in a car, shower at the gym, and do your laundry at a laundromat?" I know, it sounds illogical to me too. 

So obviously, Austy-Poo (my personal nickname for him) is a master at this concept. A wise master in a stupid way. 

Similar to the first idea, I saw a quote/question that said:
"What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?"

Be Like This Flower! :)

It's a crazy thought. I'd go after all my long-stretched dreams: Travel the world doing something meaningful, be a good teacher, have a family, etc.

In a way, it's kind of the same thing.

But can't we always succeed at our dreams? Is there ever a time where it is literally impossible to succeed at something? I think as long as we're willing to be dedicated and work hard enough for our dreams, we'll reach them. But could this question have a catch like, "You won't fail, but you'll have to work killer hard to get it"? I guess it depends on how you look at it. 

Today/Tomorrow's Challenge:
 Try something you would only do if you knew you couldn't fail. 


Challenge accepted.

-Jannallred

The Last Lecture

If you were diagnosed with cancer, and you knew you only had a certain amount of time to live, what should you do? How would you prepare yourself and those around you?

In my 9th grade English class, we read "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. We watched the shortened video in class, and then had a writing assignment to answer eight questions. If you ever want to find what your truly about, I'd highly recommend reading the book, then answering these questions. Better yet, answer them now, THEN read the book, and answer them again. 

Now, don't just answer them rhetorically. Write them down! If anything, it gives your posterity something to read, but it can also enhance your experience. Maybe it's just because I like to write, but I think it's so much more effective. It's part of the process in thinking deeply enough to put your emotions in to words, then record them.

Anyway, here are the questions:

1) How does reflecting on the past change the future?

2) What are your defining values?

3)What advice would you leave the world?

4) How do you embrace your life? How can you make every day count?

5) What makes you unique? How do you feel about these unique qualities?

6) What are your dreams? How will you achieve your dreams?

7) How do you deal with adversity? What's a healthy way to hand it?

8) If you had to sum up your life in a sentence what would it be? What's your defining statement?

When I first answered these questions, my answers seemed deep and personal to me. It was satisfying to transform them into words, and think a little deeper about it. But the next day, I read through what I had written, and I didn't understand why it had been so "satisfying". Was it simply because I was in a different mood, or would my answers have been that different if I had waited 12 hours to write them? How different will your/my answers be in 10+ years?

The Last Lecture Video: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

*GASP*

Woops.....Guess you fell asleep before the wrote on their blog last night?...Whhaaa? But if anything, I'm pretty proud that I have written as consistently as I have, even if no one reads what I'm writing.

Tonight, I hope somebody listens. Maybe not to me, but listens to something. Something good. Something important. Something big. Something happy-making. If anything, listen to this arrangement of "Come Thou Fount" by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It's probably the best one you'll hear in your whole life.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPKpkrqBwNs

Sorry, I wish pictures would show up with the links.

But till tomorrow,
-Jannallred

My Good Things List

Today, I just decided to make a list of the little things I love. Make your own and pin it to your door or something. :)

My Good Things List:
High-Fives
Hoodies
In-tune instruments
Rainy Days
Impulsiveness/Random adventures
Good pianos
Daisies
Cream Puffs
Dancing
Bow-ties
No Shoes
Pasta
Giggles
Cuties/tangerines
Farmer's Markets
Fresh Bread and Produce
Color
Thin Mints
Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows (By Leslie Gore)
Dr. Seuss
A book you can't put down
This piano and color:


Tree Swings
Floppy hats
Oreos
Good Hair days
Quotes
Fresh Herbs and Salsa
Picket Fences
Pictures
Pumpkin Bread
Messy Buns
Sundresses
A tub of ice cream, and spoon (No bowls)
Road-trips
Orange Juice
Fresh Rasberries

HaPpInEsS
-jannallred

A Late New Year's Idea

I know New Years was like...What? A month or two ago, but I love this idea. 


On January 1st, find a jar or container of some kind, and throughout the year, write about the good things that happen to you on little pieces of paper. On the next New Year's Eve, you can open it and reflect on all the amazing things that happened to you that year. You can include small objects that will remind you of good memories, and pictures.

I also love memory jars. In my seventh grade art class, we made memory jars. We ripped up construction paper and modge podged it all over some mason jars, then cut things from magazines and modged podged them on. After we decorated them to our personality we filled it with random things. Here are some Ideas:

To fill your jar:

• Notes from friends
• Pictures
• Pieces of paper with the good things that happened to you throughout the year
• Something small you made
• Pictures of your most prizes possessions with an explanations
• (My great-grandma went around her house and took pictures of all her prized possessions, and on the back explained why it mattered to her, then put who she wanted it to go to when she passed away. My mom still has her doll from her.)
• Recent newspaper snippets/current events
• Your favorite piece of jewelry you never wear anymore
• Heirlooms

My sister had a good time capsule filled with little get to know you pages. The questions were things like:

• Age, Grade
• School Subjects
• Favorite Color
• Favorite Movie
• Favorite Book
• Current Friends
• Current Crush
• Where you want to go to college
• Dream Vacation
• Where you want to live in the future
• Favorite Food
• Favorite Restaraunt
• Favorite Sport
• Wedding Wishes (where, colors, to whom, honeymoon)
• After Marriage Wishes
• Talents
• How Many Kids
• Future Kid Names
• Embarassing Moments
• Favorite Memory

etc.
The answers were pretty entertaining


I unburied my memory jar that I'm not aloud to open until graduation. I can't get the pictures to show up right, but I'll work on that.

It's better to start now than never!


If you don't want to put that much though into it, or you just a picture person, do a digital one. You can put pictures of anything and everything that will be good memories someday. There's a website called 1000memories.com that's basically an online shoe box for all of your pictures. You can upload them, scan them, and even take them with your iPhone and add them through the app. You can tag people, and make them private or share them with other members.It's been awesome to share the pictures with family, and fun just to click through old pictures.

Go have fun making your own!

-Jannallred

Future

The best way to predict the future it to create it.


...Similar to...


Life isn't for finding yourself, but creating yourself.

Believe it!
-jannallred

Every Party Has a Pooper

Tonight is one of those nights when I'm writing, and I don't know if it's making any sense. It feels satisfying to write, but the whole thing could sound like a joke tomorrow. But...oh well. 

I've decided blog/internet surfing is so bad for me. I have now learned three things:

1) My blog needs some work. Ok, a lot of work.
Turns out, starting a blog is easier said than done. It's hard to find something interesting to write about, and make the writing interesting, and to be yourself in your writing (at least it is for me. Hopefully that will change). AND, it's time consuming.

2) I have lots of new ideas I want to try....
Sewing, recipes, things to write about, what style of writing I want to use on my blog, etc. Basically I've just gained some  excited "motivation" to do a bunch of these things. But...then comes  #3. In this case, three is not the lucky number. It's the pooper. Every party has a pooper.

3) I don't have time to fix either of the first two problems.

This lovely ray of "motivation" (for lack of a better word) loves to come pounding on my door at 12 o'clock at night saying, "Wakee Wakee, I have an awesome but inconvenient idea for you!" Ugh. THIS is our love hate, relationship.

If I had time, a car, money, and a license, I would go to JoAnn's and buy myself some fabric to make a Maxi Skirt. I'd go to D.I. and buy old cheap stuff and fix them up to make myself a new cheap wardrobe. I'd read books, and write for a couple hours a day. I'd find some cool online classes, and enjoy learning about things I care about, just for fun.

Luckily, tomorrow is President's day which means NO SCHOOL! Woot, woot. Honestly, that's only exciting because that means I have that much more time to do stuff. I'm even thinking about getting up early anyway so I can get things done early in the morning, and then have the rest of the day to mess around. But by the time the morning comes, the motivation turns into "Sleepy, Sleepy, nevermind, I don't want to anymore." 

But for now, I'll make a list of my ideas and my to-do list, and hope that the ideas outweigh the desire to sleep in. 

-jannallred