Happy New Year Everyone!
Today people finalize their resolutions and prepare for what they think will be the first successful year. In reality? It will probably be just like every other year when we make it into February and something deters us from our grand resolutions and they become merely the grand desires we had for 2014. That is why I've chosen to do something different this year. I still have a few resolutions that I plan to work on, and maybe I'll make it past the dreaded February resolution crusher, but here's a new idea for you New Year.
This year I want to go on a sort of adventure. An adventure that can be fulfilled wherever I am, and only involves me. This adventure is a self discovery adventure. I want to figure myself out more. What makes me the person I am? What truly means something to me? Where am I going in my life and what are my plans to get there?
So how does this adventure work? Well, each month I will choose something about me that I want to understand better. During that month I may ask friends on Facebook, search things on the Internet, or just ponder on what those things mean to me. Over the course of the month I'll write these things down, probably in my journal (thus fulfilling one of my resolutions :D) and then I'll post my findings here. I think this will make for a more meaningful "New Years Resolution" and will make for a much more meaningful year.
Good luck to everyone who is making resolutions, and once more before the big event,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Having spent the last few weeks telling people that it doesn't feel like Christmas time is here, I've spent quite a bit of time asking myself what it is that makes Christmas time what we think it is. Is it time with family? Is it the act of buying gifts for others? Is it knowing that gifts are coming for you? As my good friend Dr. Seuss once wrote, "What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" So, I've been thinking about what that little bit more is. What is it that I have been missing out on this year that makes it feel like Christmas?
Well, let's begin with the things that usually come with Christmas. When we think of Christmas we often imagine the presents that sit under a stunningly lit tree, a layer of freshly fallen snow on the ground, and time to spend with our families. Being out at school for the holidays has taken out at least one of those, but that shouldn't be stopping me from feeling the Christmas Spirit, should it? So I determined that as Dr. Seuss says, maybe Christmas means a little bit more. What could it be though? Strangely enough, I think I found my answer while working in a cafeteria dish room. To be clear, my answer did not come in the food that was served or in staring at the dishes that were washed. Instead my answer came after I walked out the back door to take out the trash. Yes, you read that right, I was taking out the trash when I found my answer about the Christmas Spirit. But it was not the trash either that taught me of the Christmas Spirit. The back door of the cafeteria faces the mountains, and that is where my answer came from.
Today was a pretty dreary day to be honest. It snowed this morning, but around noon it became just a cloudy day. The day drew on slowly, and cleared up a little bit as evening drew on. It was around that time that I went to take out the trash. When I opened up the back door I looked up to the mountains and saw the reflection of the sunset on the snow covering the mountains. The view was spectacular, and led me to think about what the Christmas Spirit is all about. It's not about the presents we receive, or the snow outside, and it's really not so much about the time spent with others. What I have found is that the Christmas Spirit is finding the beauty in everything, in each passing day, in the spirit of giving, in the Christmas time itself. What I have missed this year is finding the joys of the season, and looking for beauty in everything around me. I let myself get caught up in finals for school and thinking that it would feel like Christmas if I were home. However, that is not what Christmas is. Christmas is the beauty of the season. The Spirit of Christmas is found in everything around us.
Well, it's begun. I've fallen into the modern day journal system called blogging. It's actually been on my mind for a while now, seeing all the other blogs going on, and wishing that I had some way to share my life with others. So here it goes, I've diving into the blogger world.
I guess I'll begin with an introduction. I'm James Schofield, 22 years old. I grew up in Kansas my whole life, then lived in Iceland where I served a church mission. After returning from Iceland I hit the road to attend BYU where I am attending school. It is here where my blogging story begins.
After spending two years away from home, coming home for the summer and then going straight out to college, I realized something I had never thought much of before. Time flies, but more than that, it disappears! I haven't seen most of my high school friends in ages, they all left for college and I left the country. I feel lost to them and they are lost to me. And so I thought, what is a way in which I can keep these people in my life, even though I won't be able to see them often. And from there emerged the blogging idea. This is the beginning of what I hope will be a way for me to share my life with you, whoever you are. This will be a mile in my shoes.
Happy Travels!
