Between The Lines Of Life

By Claire Enos Life has a way of tearing you down until you don't think you can take any more, lifting you back up, and then bringing you down farther than before just to bring you up higher than you've ever been. Lately, my life has been a roller coaster ride. This whole year has been one long ride of ups and downs. Despite everything, I try to stay as positive as possible. I've been at my absolute worst and had people come up to me and say I make them smile because I always seem to be so happy. So, how do I do it? Well, sometimes I don't even know how. But, I'll try to share some of my favorite remedies for a happy and positive outlook: Music - Music is one of the best remedies of all time. All it takes is one good uplifting song and suddenly I can't be upset anymore. I just have to keep moving forward and put on a smile. Strange how that works. Amazing Friends - I have an amazing group of friends! Some, I talk to about anything and they always seem to

By Claire Enos I love birthdays. I love everything about them! I love turning a new age, I love the newness of it all. And I love the fact that my birthday is a day that's all about me. But, this year I turned 24. That's a big number. Especially for someone who is still in college, and not even dating anyone. So, today for my English Writing Seminar I read a short story by Sherwood Anderson called "Sophistication". The quote that stuck out to me follows: "With all his heart he wants to come close to some other human, touch someone with his hands, be touched by the hand of another. If he prefers that the other be a woman, that is because he believes that a woman will be gentle, that she will understand. He wants, most of all, understanding." This stuck out to me because it somehow struck home in my heart. It touched on a part of my soul. I can wait, I'm patient, but what I'm searching for most of all is someone to understand me. Someone who wil

By Claire Enos I've been out of this scene for awhile, but I miss writing, so... here I am! Tonight is my last night in Oregon before I head back to school for my last year of college. My life has been pretty crazy lately. I originally planned on graduating in December, but some plans didn't work out and I still need a class after this semester, so I am postponing graduation until April 2016. I will also be turning 24 this year, and hopefully going to the temple sometime this semester. I will also be starting a couple pet projects of mine and hopefully still writing as well. There's more I would like to say but I will hold off for a week or two. Here are a few of the fun things I got to do this summer: Westover Family Reunion! I had tons of fun and met lots of family members that I'd only talked to online. It was a great time had by all, despite the sunburn. Overall best way to start my summer break! Road trip with my bestie! It was great, we traveled f

Sunday found me sitting across from my Bishop, discussing my options. Actually, not even my options. I had already made the decision. We were discussing what my next step was. But, before I get into that, a little background might be helpful. Back in the summer of 2012 I was discussing the possibility of serving a mission. It was a vague thought in the back of my head, but it just didn't seem right. And maybe part of it was just that I was too scared to go. My excuse was that I didn't have the money and didn't want to burden my parents when they could barely afford to take care of my four younger siblings. In October 2012, a couple weeks before my 21st birthday, I went down to Utah over Conference weekend to visit my sister. Her friend offered us tickets to General Conference and since she'd never been we gladly took them. The tickets were for the Saturday morning session so we woke up early and walked a mile or two to the Conference Center. This session ended up be

Recently, something has been weighing heavily on my mind, and I felt the need to lighten my load. This blog is one way that I have been able to do that in the past, so I am again coming back to it. Today, I'm going to talk relationships. Now, I'm sure I don't have as much experience as many of my friends. However, I have had some experience, and even some is better than none. So, here are a few tips for you as you embark on a relationship: 1. Don't stress. Whoever your significant other is, you already know they like you, and I sure hope you feel the same for them. So, what I'm trying to say is: you don't need to impress them! They're already impressed. You just need to be yourself. If they are the one for you, they will love you no matter what. 2. Take all relationship advice (including and especially mine) knowing that it might not be right for you and your significant other. After all, we all have different experiences. My first relationship wa

So today I've been having prompting after prompting. They've been like nonstop all day. During my meetings it might have looked like I wasn't paying attention to what we were learning, but that's because I was too busy listening to what I needed to hear and writing everything down. However, in the midst of all this crazy spiritualness I kept getting bombarded with feelings of hurt and exhaustion and other emotions that weren't really conducive to the spiritual promptings I was getting. I was starting to feel a little down. So, I decided to take an impromptu walk in the gardens all by myself. For those of you familiar with the gardens, there's a part of the gardens near the Hinckley where there's a porch with two swings, and a doorway in between. If you go behind the doorway, there are two more benches on either side. I sat down on one of those and poured my heart and thoughts and feelings out to the Lord. I wasn't completely upset but I was definitel

By Claire Enos I'm tired of people judging me because of the things I choose not to do. Things like not watching rated R movies, and not wearing that gorgeous white lace dress (not the one in my closet) because it doesn't cover my shoulders and probably won't cover my knees either, and even not drinking tea or coffee. These are standards I've grown up with, they are things I was taught at home and at church. However, I'm not forced to follow them. I can choose. See, in my church, we believe in agency. We believe we have the right to choose for ourselves what is right and what is wrong from the age of accountability (8) when we are baptized as members of our church. When we are eight, and are baptized as members, we make a covenant with God that we will follow the commandments and take his name upon us. That we will go forth as disciples and bring others to His light. We make a covenant that we will follow these standards so that we can one day be sealed to our E