Learning to Live

I decided to make 2013 a year for bettering myself as a person and as I reflect on the past year, I know I am far from the person I want to be, but I definitely learned some valuable lessons about life. So here they are. 1. Appreciate EVERYTHING. I focused a lot on being thankful this year and with that I learned how important it is to appreciate everything: moments, days, feelings, things, and people. Especially people. And make sure you tell the people you appreciate that you appreciate them. That's something we don't do enough and it's important to do it while we can. Plus, everyone likes to feel appreciated. 2. Be honest with everyone- including yourself. Even though it can be difficult, it's better to be honest than to become trapped in a web of lies. And it's also a good idea to avoid lying to yourself. If you can be honest with yourself you figure things out a lot quicker and it will be easier in the long run. 3. You can't make everyone happy. Th...

Earlier this year I challenged myself to write down 1,000 things I am thankful for: http://erinthompson11.blogspot.com/2013/01/1000-things.html It has truly been a challenge and I'm sure there are a couple repeats on my list, but nevertheless I have found 1,000 things to be thankful for. It may seem like an easy task, but there are times when you feel silly writing down little things. But that's the point. We have so much to be thankful for. My list is filled with people, moments, feelings and things. It doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to compile a list of 1,000 things, but we tend to think that we have to come up with really big and important ideas. Although there are big and important things, there are little things that are equally important and it's crucial that we realize how many things we have to be thankful for. It doesn't matter if you are religious or not, the act of being thankful should never be a chore and it is something we should pr...

Here's another sappy post about how much I love my life. We recently finished up with the Concordia Christmas concert. Although it was a tad stressful to have it the weekend before finals, I am so thankful I was able to be a part of this wonderful experience. These concerts are truly magical and joining choir at Concordia is one of the best decisions I have ever made. One of the reasons choir is so wonderful is because it gives you the opportunity to share your gifts and use your most personal instrument: your voice. Sharing something so personal with an audience is an awesome experience. The thought of sharing a message through singing is something that I find truly fascinating. I also just really love singing. It makes me really happy. And I like that my singing makes other people happy. One of the other reasons choir is wonderful is because of the fabulous people that I am surrounded by. I love how choir has the ability to take a diverse group of people and make them a fam...

Here's a piece I wrote for the High Plains Reader  this month: The holidays are supposed to be a time filled with joy and family. We are surrounded by loved ones and delicious food; how could one not be happy? Unfortunately, every year people around the world are forced to face their first holiday without a loved one. And for many, the holidays serve as a reminder of the ones that are no longer with us. Recently, a group of students at Concordia College held a student panel on the topic of grief and how to move on with life after loss. One student described this grief as a scar that will never fully heal. Although several families will endure their first holiday season without a loved one, this may not be something that gets easier with time. Every family endures a loss followed by a holiday season at some point in their life. Unfortunately, we live in a society that constantly expects us to put on a happy face, even when things are difficult. Should this always be the case? I...

Sometimes we wish life away and sometimes we complain it is going too fast. We are constantly being challenged to live in the moment, and for some people that's easy. But for a lot of us it's incredibly difficult. The future is constantly looming before us and the past has shaped us into who we are. It becomes to difficult to know what to focus on. The past is important to remember, but we must also recognize how fast life is moving. As cliché as it is, we cannot always expect a tomorrow. I am already thinking about how time is running out with my college friends. After we graduate, life becomes real and we won't have as much time to spend with these people. This is a scary and sad thought, but we cannot let it consume us. I wish I had some awesome advice in regards to thinking about the pace of life and how we should go about it, but all I can think of is to simply become aware. Be aware of the fact that life is constantly moving and will never slow down.

I had an awesome conversation with one of my friends recently that led to us talking about our fear of looking stupid. The conclusion that we came to was that if you actually want something, you need to go out and get it. In this day and age people are so afraid of being judged and making a fool of themselves that they let that stop them from getting what they really want. They are content with settling because they cannot stand the idea of putting themselves out there. We should not let our fear stop us from getting what we want. Oddly enough, I also finished a book that dealt with this same idea. Spencer Johnson's "Who Moved My Cheese?" tells the story of four fictional characters who have to adjust to change in their lives. It's a quick read (93 pages) and I recommend it to everyone. (I seriously finished it in like 30 minutes, take the time!) The"cheese" mentioned in the title is an allegorical representation of whatever it is we want in life, typica...

A month ago my Grandpa Royce was boppin' around on his segway. He was 85. 85 and on a segway. It doesn't get much more legit than that, folks. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to him 2 weeks ago. His cancer came back and it came back fast. We thought he would be around forever because that's the kind of guy he was, but of course that isn't possible. It just goes to show how important it is to appreciate the time you have with your loved ones. Oddly enough we are all doing really well with how fast it all happened. Perhaps it's because it doesn't quite seem real yet, but I think it's something else. My grandpa was a fighter. He was a tough guy and I think the rest of my family would agree with me when I say that he was ready to throw the towel in. He lived one hell of a life and he knew he didn't want to live without something to live for. If he couldn't do the things he loved, then what was the sense in living? He knew this, he understand thi...

This past weekend I had the opportunity to cross something off of my bucket list that I have been wanting to for awhile now: a road trip to Chicago. When I first brought up the idea to my parents, they were like, "Okay whatever, Erin is just rambling like always," but once I got serious things quickly took a turn for the worse. My dad began to stress about every possible thing that could go wrong (typical): -My car breaking down -An accident involving my car -Triple A leaving me stranded 400 miles from home -Me being unable to drive in the city thus resulting in some sort of accident (There's a theme here if you can't tell...) -My safety (Notice what comes last) Anyway, I decided to ignore everything my dad said and go for it anyway. This was probably one of the best decisions ever. By choosing to not say no, I took control of my life and did what I wanted to do and I was rewarded with a wonderful experience that left me with so many fantastic memories. ...

The world would be such a different place if there were no expectations. There would be so much less disappointment. When you think about it, most disappointment stems from some sort of expectation. We wouldn’t fail because we couldn’t expect something to be better than reality. I know that this is fairly negative thinking and there is a completely different side to the idea of expectations but I challenge you to look at things in a different light. Imagine life as a child who knows nothing, expects nothing of the world. They live their lives in constant wonder. Life is a one big surprise to them. How cool is that? If we expect nothing from a day, then waking up is a miracle in itself. If you don’t expect anything, then every moment is a wonderful surprise and we can’t help but to be filled with joy. “Instead of filling with expectations, the joy-filled expect nothing and are filled.” If we learn to control how much we expect from the world, then every good thi...

This past weekend I heard a friend of mine say something that really stuck with me. She was talking about a previous relationship and made an excellent point when she said: "You have to learn how to be happy alone." Although this seems like something that should come naturally, we live in a society where we depend on others to be happy. We are constantly leaning on our relationships to make sure we are happy. A specific example of this is how we seem to think that we need to find that one person that will complete us and fulfill our dreams of living happily ever after. And some people are in too much of a hurry to find this person that they reach out to anyone who will throw them a bone. I'm not saying this is wrong, but it's hard to be completely happy with that one person if you don't know how to be happy just being you and doing your own thing. It seems simple, but we get caught up in life and forget about how important it is to find our own happiness. We c...

As we go through life it’s easy to get caught up in overthinking everything and making assumptions about virtually every situation we find ourselves in.   Overthinking and making assumptions can lead to unnecessary worrying. If we look at the facts and accept them for what they are, we can reduce our stress and focus on living in the now. Unfortunately, it is human nature to wonder and worry. However it does help to be aware of how often we overthink. When we force ourselves to look at the facts we are reminded that the situations we find ourselves in are often not as bad as they first appear—it’s all in our head.     As easy it is to get caught up in the situations we make up in our head, we must remind ourselves to live in the present and focus on what we know and not what we think we know.   Looking at the facts is an essential part of living in the now and accepting life as it is.

A recent conversation I had with a friend left me reflecting on how we as humans cope with stress. The conversation was focused on how we tend to worry about the future and it causes us to forget about living in the now. This chat helped open my eyes to how important it is to live life right here, right now. We should not allow our worry about the future prohibit us from a current state of happiness. My friend brought up a book by Robert M. Sapolsky titled "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers." While the book focuses on many different aspects of stress related disorders, the part my friend was focusing on dealt with how zebras live their lives. The basic gist of it goes something like this: when zebras are at the watering hole and there are lions there too, they don't stress about it. When they are getting chased by lions they freak out and run away. But as soon as the lions stop chasing them, they forget about their fear of the lions and continue to live their lives. They ...

I’m supposed to hate running. I’ve hated it forever. But I recently decided to give it a chance and it has become one of my favorite things to do. Back in December I decided to go out on a limb and sign up to run the Fargo half marathon. I think originally signed up with the intent of losing a couple pounds and even though that didn’t happen, this race meant so much more to me than I ever thought it would. Although 13.1 miles is nowhere near 26.2, it was quite a journey to get here and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Today was the day that I actually ran and it was one of the best experiences of my entire life. It was so cool to see the Fargo community come out and support the runners. There was no point during this run that I felt like I couldn’t keep going because they were constantly there cheering for us. It was insane to have that much support from people I didn’t know, and of course the people that I do know that were there to support me. I am so blessed to ha...

Well the day has arrived. I am no longer a teen. I am finally 20. I have heard so many great things about being 20. Some people tell me that this is the best year of your life. This is obviously sarcastic. 20 is looking pretty bleak to be honest. I mean yeah, cool, I'm no longer a teenager, but what can I do now that I couldn't do then? Watch all of my friends slowly turn 21 one by one. Only one more year until it actually matters for me. Don't worry, this isn't a post about how badly I wish I was turning 21 instead of 20 (although it does seem like it....). Obviously this post needs to relate to some cliché aspect of life and it will probably resemble previous posts, but whatever. Truth be told I am excited and nervous about being 20. I'm excited to be closer to a real adult but I'm also frightened at the thought of real adulthood. I'm already sick of paying my credit card bill and I can't even cook for myself... And I'm nervous about leaving ...

Another year at Concordia has come to an end and I am filled with so many different emotions. -Halfway done = Freaked out! -Done with school = Pumped up! -Summer time = Ecstatic! -Leaving my Cobbers = Sad! -Coming home = Pretty pumped! -Time moving so fast = Anxious!  It was definitely bittersweet as I drove away from campus today. It's weird how much can change in a year. Last year at this point I peaced out 15 minutes after I finished my last final but this year was so much different. I wanted to stay as long as possible. Although I was definitely ready to be done with school, I was not emotionally ready to leave the place I have come to call my home. This year has been filled with so many wonderful memories. I have met so many awesome people and I am looking forward to making next year even better! Although they weren't all good times, the bad times have just taught me a lesson and made me appreciate the good times even more. I'm in college and I'm stupid....

Recently I have embraced a new hobby- running. And by recently I mean like in the past year, but my interest has definitely heightened in the past couple months. It's weird because I used to be the girl who would walk the mile and protest against that stupid Friday run test, but maybe all those silly gym teachers had a point. Even though it can be difficult at times, running is great for you on so many different levels. Not only is it great exercise but it also gives you some time to think, or not think. I think that's what I enjoy about it so much. It either forces me to think about a problem at hand or allows me to forget about it. I get anxious a lot and now instead of crying about things, I go for a run and it really works. You can't beat the feeling after a nice run. I am also training to run the Fargo half marathon in three weeks and I'm really nervous but I know that once I cross the finish line, nothing else will matter. All those Saturday mornings I spent ru...

Everything happens for a reason, right? I know people say this a lot, but can it really be true? Does everything actually happen for a reason? Even though we often can't see these reasons, in the big picture, everything that happens to us leads us to where we are now. Although we might not understand these reasons immediately, we can still take something away from whatever comes at us. We should embrace every experience we have as a chance to learn something. It could be about yourself or something much, much bigger than that, but either way, you should constantly be learning- even if it seems impossible. Lately I've been forced to reflect on some things I've said and done in the past. I've been leaning a lot on the awesome people around me and the belief that there is some deeper meaning to all of this. A popular Marilyn Monroe quote sums this up pretty well: " I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, t...

When I left for college I was excited and terrified at the same time. Excited for the future and to get away from Princeton (as much as I love it), but also terrified of the future and what it had in store for me. I wasn't sure I could handle being away from my parents and deal with the pressure of putting myself out there and making new friends. But the thing that scared me the most was leaving my old friends behind. I tried really hard at the beginning to stay in touch with everyone, but as time went on we talked less and less. Of course there are the special ones I still talk with on a regular basis, but for the most part, a lot of my high school relationships have faded away. I detested this last year. I hated the friends that were off having the time of their life, while I was stuck hating mine and trying to force a friendship. But like I said, as time went on, keeping in contact with these friends became less and less important to me. I'm thankful for the friends I stil...

Today was a great day. In some ways it was awful, but in most ways it was great. And it was great thanks to some random guys we met at a gas station in Audubon, Minnesota. It all started when my friends and I left Duluth around 9:47 this morning. We were attempting to return to Concordia in good ol' Moorhead (across the entire state of Minnesota). The key word in the previous sentence is attempting.We had a countless amount of people tell us we were fools for doing this. "You're going to die." "You are driving into a blizzard." "Watch out for the weather." Blah blah blah. Naturally, we didn't believe any of this and figured we could do it. The weather was clear heading out of Duluth and we figured we would be golden. Boy, were we wrong. The weather started looking pretty rough halfway into our drive. Kim's wipers were proving to be impossible to work with. We were all stressed out and Mary's noises definitely were not helping the si...

We are constantly reminded how important it is to count our blessings and realize all the fantastic things we have in our life to be thankful for. After all, not everyone in the world is as privileged as we are. I'm not saying that to sound snotty, I'm saying it because it's true. Anyway, it's a fact that there are a lot of things to be thankful for. But have you ever thought about ALL of these things? I bought a devotional for the coming year titled "One Thousand Gifts"  by Ann Voskamp. It's somewhat of a prequel to her book with the same title. The subtitle of the book is: "Reflections on Finding Everyday Graces." So far I am really enjoying it. It helps me remember to take a step back and appreciate everything this beautiful world has to offer. There are some great devos to do whenever I feel like it, but that is not the only part of this book that intrigues me. The biggest reason I chose this particular devo is because of the fact that th...

I realize I'm a little late on this one. But better late than never. Well, 2012 was a good one, but like most people I am anticipating the things this next year has to bring. Many people decide that a new year means a new them and they decide on some sort of "New Year's Resolution" that they will most likely end up not following through with. In previous years, I have joined this group of people in setting unattainable goals for myself. While I still have some specific examples in mind, I am hoping to finish out 2013 stronger than 2012. I am choosing to not focus on one specific thing I would like to change, but instead I am going to focus on constantly bettering my whole entire self. (Cliché yet again. But think of it this way, now there is *hopefully* no possible way to let myself down.) However, even though I have said I have no "real" resolutions, the new optimistic me does have some things she would like to work on: -Cussing less. (This is for Jo...