learn your lessons.

I am a strong believer that God does things for a purpose and that all of the situations in life that we find ourselves in happen to teach us a specific thing. What matters is what we choose to learn from these situations. When I look back on my college career so far, I can pinpoint lessons that I needed to learn from specific semesters because of where I lived, the roommates I had and the classes I took.

My first semester I learned that it's ok to just be sad sometimes. I know that sounds silly, but that is something that I seriously struggled with. And it took me a long time to get to the point where I could accept myself even if I was feeling sad.

My second semester I learned that God wants us to get married and make temple covenants and have an eternal family. I always knew that, but this was the semester that I truly KNEW it. I also learned that a relationship that isn't moving in the direction of the temple becomes a detriment to eternal progression, even if both of the people in question are temple worthy and good people.

This semester I have learned that I can be alone. Physically, I can be alone which is something that has scared me for a long time. I have very busy roommates and I find myself in an empty apartment every day at some point, sometimes for hours. This used to completely unglue me. I needed social interaction at all times. But this semester I have truly learned to enjoy my own company. Also, I can be alone emotionally. I don't need anyone in my life to make me happy, I can do it all on my own. I don't need to be in a relationship to have a sense of self. I think I've found myself more this semester, being all by myself, than I have for a long long time. It's a nice feeling, to get to know myself in a very personal way.

Obviously, I have learned much more than just these three things over the past three semesters, but I feel strongly that each semester of college I have experienced so far has yielded at least one true principle about myself. I feel like I am taking baby steps to truly know who I am and it's an exciting journey. Thankfully I have the footsteps of the Savior to follow and I have my patriarchal blessing to help me know where to turn. Isn't it wonderful how much God loves us that He gives us those examples? And that He leads and directs our lives so that we can maximize our learning experience here? It's so great.