Dear Reader,
I wanted to invite someone else to share their thoughts on the blog. So, here is a little something from my sister, Cami. It is an unedited address to BYU/College students everywhere.
So Dale asked me to write a blog giving advice to BYU students. Because, let's face it, you guys are totally lost and confused and you need it. And I am a big guru. I know because I went to BYU, didn't die, and graduated. So you all should be clamoring for my knowledge. Okay, so in all honesty, I don't know how I feel about giving advice to perfect strangers on the internet. Sometimes I read articles that are really heartwarming and helpful, but a lot of them seem to be general platitudes and cheerleader advice that make my inner cynic want to die a little. Not exactly my style. I could fake it, though. Aw, shucks, you go to BYU! Magical school of wonder! It will be the best and worst years of your life. Go for your dreams. Find yourself. Find your magical spouse of wonder. Save the world. Do what you love! Pretty good, right? I'm considering motivational speaking.
On the other hand, were I to try and dispense actual, practical, specific advice, we run into a few problems as well. One is that I haven't been at BYU as a student in seven years. They basically rebuilt half of campus in that time. Businesses closed and opened. Trends and styles changed (and I was the queen of style and trends anyway, let me tell you. Everyone at BYU flocked to me to tell them what to wear and where to hang out. Or I sat in my dorm doing my homework and eating cookie dough and wearing my pajamas. One of those two things.) So I could make a list of five must have restaurants you need to leave Provo, or the coolest places to have a picnic on campus, but then you'll go find a nail salon or a pile of rocks under construction and I'll look really smart.
Another obstacle: I don't know you. I really do have some great advice about BYU. About school work and socializing and housing and everything else under the sun I experienced. But you aren't me. I could tell you to pick a major you love because life is too short, but maybe you need to hear to dump that history major and go into Business Marketing because you want six kids and a family vacation at Disney World. I could tell you to spend a little less time studying and a little more time socializing because you only live once, but maybe you're a slacker or trying to get into an elite med school and you really do need to spend every waking moment studying or getting that 4.0. And let's not even get started on dating advice, because you're probably already better at it than I was, and we all know one technique works for everybody in that arena.
No, here's what I'll do for you, since I love you. Let's get real and personal here. We'll drop the sarcasm and the witty banter for just a while and I'll tell you the one piece of advice I have to give that is probably the most valuable thing I learned during college, and one of the few things that is still useful to me on a daily basis. Because you never know where life is going to take you. But whether you end up in a high powered business job, or hiking around Europe, or staying at home with a bunch of kids, there is one skill I guarantee will help you. College is a time to grow up and learn to make hefty decisions and learn to trust yourself and deal with life on your own. The best way I know how to do that is to learn to trust God. Take these four, or two, or six years of your life and learn to listen to the Spirit. Learn how to study a decision, take it to God, and know you're doing the best thing for you, even if it flies in the face of logic or it's hard or it's not what you want to do. God gives better advice than some person on the internet anyway. And it will make you happy and take you where you need to go.
So, serious break time over. It's been lovely chatting with you, and I hope you got a little something out of it, because otherwise I just wasted time I could have used catching up on Netflix, and that would be a bummer. Now go forth and enjoy, oh Cougars. Because you go to a magical school of wonder, and it would be a shame if you didn't embrace that opportunity and find yourself and go for your dreams and all that shtick.
Cami
For more about Cami, visit her page: Sparrow's Nest.
I wanted to invite someone else to share their thoughts on the blog. So, here is a little something from my sister, Cami. It is an unedited address to BYU/College students everywhere.
So Dale asked me to write a blog giving advice to BYU students. Because, let's face it, you guys are totally lost and confused and you need it. And I am a big guru. I know because I went to BYU, didn't die, and graduated. So you all should be clamoring for my knowledge. Okay, so in all honesty, I don't know how I feel about giving advice to perfect strangers on the internet. Sometimes I read articles that are really heartwarming and helpful, but a lot of them seem to be general platitudes and cheerleader advice that make my inner cynic want to die a little. Not exactly my style. I could fake it, though. Aw, shucks, you go to BYU! Magical school of wonder! It will be the best and worst years of your life. Go for your dreams. Find yourself. Find your magical spouse of wonder. Save the world. Do what you love! Pretty good, right? I'm considering motivational speaking.
On the other hand, were I to try and dispense actual, practical, specific advice, we run into a few problems as well. One is that I haven't been at BYU as a student in seven years. They basically rebuilt half of campus in that time. Businesses closed and opened. Trends and styles changed (and I was the queen of style and trends anyway, let me tell you. Everyone at BYU flocked to me to tell them what to wear and where to hang out. Or I sat in my dorm doing my homework and eating cookie dough and wearing my pajamas. One of those two things.) So I could make a list of five must have restaurants you need to leave Provo, or the coolest places to have a picnic on campus, but then you'll go find a nail salon or a pile of rocks under construction and I'll look really smart.
Another obstacle: I don't know you. I really do have some great advice about BYU. About school work and socializing and housing and everything else under the sun I experienced. But you aren't me. I could tell you to pick a major you love because life is too short, but maybe you need to hear to dump that history major and go into Business Marketing because you want six kids and a family vacation at Disney World. I could tell you to spend a little less time studying and a little more time socializing because you only live once, but maybe you're a slacker or trying to get into an elite med school and you really do need to spend every waking moment studying or getting that 4.0. And let's not even get started on dating advice, because you're probably already better at it than I was, and we all know one technique works for everybody in that arena.
No, here's what I'll do for you, since I love you. Let's get real and personal here. We'll drop the sarcasm and the witty banter for just a while and I'll tell you the one piece of advice I have to give that is probably the most valuable thing I learned during college, and one of the few things that is still useful to me on a daily basis. Because you never know where life is going to take you. But whether you end up in a high powered business job, or hiking around Europe, or staying at home with a bunch of kids, there is one skill I guarantee will help you. College is a time to grow up and learn to make hefty decisions and learn to trust yourself and deal with life on your own. The best way I know how to do that is to learn to trust God. Take these four, or two, or six years of your life and learn to listen to the Spirit. Learn how to study a decision, take it to God, and know you're doing the best thing for you, even if it flies in the face of logic or it's hard or it's not what you want to do. God gives better advice than some person on the internet anyway. And it will make you happy and take you where you need to go.
So, serious break time over. It's been lovely chatting with you, and I hope you got a little something out of it, because otherwise I just wasted time I could have used catching up on Netflix, and that would be a bummer. Now go forth and enjoy, oh Cougars. Because you go to a magical school of wonder, and it would be a shame if you didn't embrace that opportunity and find yourself and go for your dreams and all that shtick.
Cami
For more about Cami, visit her page: Sparrow's Nest.
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