I came home today to my burst-of-sunshine roommate, Nebs. We started complaining about the same old stuff...you know...poopwater leaking all over our apartment, black mold in our ceiling, a carpet that just screams "I HAVE LIVING THINGS ALL OVER ME THAT WILL EAT YOU!" and all good things under the sun. (Hint: Don't live at University Villa. Ever.)
I don't even remember where our conversation took a turn, but we started talking about establishing healthy habits, taking personal responsibility for social issues, and just doing whatever the heck you want. We got on our personal soap boxes for awhile and preached to each other for a couple hours and then....returned to our lives and moldy apartment.
Soapbox Number 1:
Mormons do not do a very good job of interpreting and implementing the Word of Wisdom. I swear, Mormons are the number one consumer of sugar in this country. Well, probably not. But maybe. Go to any ward activity and expect to fill your body with blondies, brownies, an expansive variety of cookies, green jello, red jello, blue jello, doughnuts, and...candy. So. Much. Candy. We sure know how to party without drugs and alcohol. Just throw in some Reese's and Type II diabetes, and we call it good.
And visiting teaching and Relief Society lessons? Heaven forbid you forget treats. The only way to get fully grown adults to sit like good children and listen to you for 45 minutes.
Sorry for the heavy dose of sarcasm. But not sorry at all, really. Do you know how amazing our bodies are?
Our bodies are designed in the image of God, programmed to regenerate its cells, meant to run and lift and carry our spirits. We would do well to treat them a little bit better. Our bodies are mortally, inseparably connected to our spirits. When I get extremely emotionally upset, my body starts to shut down. I find it impossible to eat or sleep. I know this is a lot more complicated than a mind-body connection, but that's what it really comes down to. Nourish your body to take care of your spirit, and nourish your spirit to take care of your body.
HOW do you expect to control your spirit and fully submit yourself to the will of God if you can't control this mortal body that He has given you? You can't. True submission to the will of God entails a submission of body and spirit. They are inseparable.
Yes, I believe food provides a truly enjoyable human experience, and you should enjoy it, but you don't have to be a slave to it. You do not have to be a slave to the natural man or to any of your body's cravings. And that includes food, drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, or any type of addictive substance or behavior. How liberating it is to be in complete control of your body and spirit. Not to be dependent on substances or behaviors that drive away the Spirit of God.
Accounts of Siddartha's life say that he went days and days eating a single grain of rice. Only when he could transcend mortal pain could he reach nirvana. New approach to fasting anyone? For two meals once a month, just focus on controlling your body's urges and feeding your spirit in abundance instead. Learn how to control!
Listen to your body. Spend time meditating each day. Each body is unique. It's trying to tell you that it needs certain nutrients, that it can't handle certain substances, that it needs to get outside of your house and run. Be mindful. Shh. Listen.
Soapbox Number 2:
Stop. Trying. To. Please. Other. People.
I've had days where I've woken up sick to my stomach, my mind laden with worry about what people will see in me today. I went through a period of about five years where self-consciousness about my body was on my mind literally every second of every day. How am I sitting? Does it make my fat more noticeable? This shirt makes my arms look to beefy. What good is being smart if I'm not pretty? On these days, I find myself the most awkward, uninteresting, and unappealing person in the universe. Why do we do it? Why do we care? I could go on guessing things about insecurity, the need for acceptance, blah-dy blah blah. I don't really want to explore those reasons right now because I've found the solution that works for me.
Look at your potential. You are a son or daughter of a God and Goddess. We're in this temporary mortal existence trying to become more like them and then...you better be ready. How incredible is this? That in our divine nature, we are designed to become like those beings who created us? Can you even fathom what you are capable of?
If you're Mormon and have a copy of your Patriarchal blessing, take a look at that. You were designed to be extraordinary and do remarkable things. The truth is, you will never be enough to please everyone here. Everyone on earth holds different standards and wants different things from you. Some of them expect you to be the perfect little Mormon housewife. Some of them expect you to be a sleaze ball. Some of them expect you to succumb to substance abuse. Some of them expect you to look perfect. Some of them expect you to never make a moral mistake. You will never be enough for them. But you ARE ENOUGH to live up to the divine potential defined in your patriarchal blessing. YOU ARE ALREADY ENOUGH. Just do it! It's complicated, but it's so, so simple.
As one of my good Thailand friends put it last night (not verbatim, but close enough): "Your opinion holds no sway on me and my decisions. I could care less what you think." [About people that we interact with on a daily basis, not directed at me haha.] I think most of us coming back from Thailand experienced some blues or depression here in Provo. My first day back walking around on campus, I just saw a bunch of people who didn't understand or care about what I had become so deeply invested in for the past two and a half months. I was back in this superficial dating world, where you have to dress to impress and flirt to convert and a billion other stupid things that don't really matter.
We live in this little city where we are socialized to care about things that really shouldn't matter. So what if I wore my hair up every day this week because I was too lazy to spend an hour doing my hair. So what if I believe I can have a career and be a mother. (Why is this so shocking to people here? Why does this idea make guys treat you like the plague?) So what if I don't feel like hanging out with anybody on a Friday night, and I watch 6 episodes of 30 Rock back to back? So what if I've only gone on a couple of dates in the last......well, that's my private business. As I so eloquently tried to express today, "I don't give a fart's....I mean, flying fart about what anyone thinks. I'm so flipping done." People are great. But they are also really lame and judgmental sometimes. Your opinion doesn't need to count when it comes to who I want to be and what I want to do. And my opinion doesn't need to count when it comes to who you want to be and what you want to do.
Why do we waste so. much. time? Caring about what other people think? Ha. I told Nebs today that I used to spend all of my free time in high school looking for tips to stay thin on pro-ana websites. Why was I sitting on my butt on the Internet when I should've been out running!? (Hooray for morbid jokes.)
What if we took all that time and did something a little more constructive. Leading into...
Soapbox Number 3:
Please find out what you care about and do what you love. I'm begging you! This world needs fewer people who care about money, and more people who care about making this world a better place through their unique talents and abilities.
YOU have a never-before-seen-or-experienced set of abilities and experiences that have immense potential to bless the lives of other people. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please use them! I've been told I will care about money a lot more when I'm older and when I understand more. I'm willing to admit that my viewpoints can change over time, and that I don't have a complete understanding of adulthood and money and all that good stuff. But here we are in this world again, where we're socialized to make things matter that shouldn't matter.
Watch this. Watch it! WATCH.
Otherwise, you won't be able to fully appreciate what I'm going to say next.
Learn how to embrace discomfort. Foster a sense of curiosity. Ask questions. Learn how to think critically. Seek for answers. Discover. Share.
This world will start getting better when people realize that ideas and education drive society forward. Not money, not fame, not instant satisfaction. But ideas and education. Share your passions with other people! Enlighten them! Be humble and willing to be enlightened by others. Foster an open-minded state of being. People like people who don't always think they're right. (Here's a secret: You're not always right! Neither am I! Gasp! Shock! Awe! What!?)
Consider this post a soapbox speech begging you to get it together and just live the heck out of life. PLEASE.
