10 ways to make life more fun

     Moving away from home for the first time and living with 5 new roommates and having to make friends and learn how you fit in again does a lot of things to you. At first it's super awesome, and then it gets super hard, and then the awesome comes back, and its a constant juggle of hard and awesome. All my roommates and I had to find out what parts of ourselves fit best together so that we could all learn to get along and enjoy being with each other every day. Sara and I were pretty different back home, both into completely different things and had different humors and personalities, and when we moved here we both had to make some adjustments. But don't worry guys - we're happy about these adjustments. I have never had so much fun!

     Don't think that I'm actually doing more fun things here than I did at home, that would be very incorrect. I had way more freedom to do fun things at home. I had a job (workin on that one), money, a car, and so did all my friends. Here, we have to find rides from people and we have very little to no money for entertainment. And WAY more homework. If you look at all the things I do with my days, it honestly would appear that I have a boring, uneventful life. So how do I seem like I'm having so much fun all the time?? Because I am!! Sara and I learned that being a student and doing adult things does not have to have a bad connotation. Who said those things have to be boring or tiresome? So I've come up with this list of ten ways to make a boring, average life WAY fun.

1. When you wake up, no matter how hard it is to get out of bed, no matter how tired and grumpy you are, GET YOURSELF IN A GOOD MOOD. Take a few minutes to yourself to be alone and grumpy, and get it out of your system, and then, move on and have a good day. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am SO grumpy when I wake up. I refuse. Mornings are JUST the worst. I have the hardest time waking up than anyone I've ever known. My mom and my roommates can second that. But I drag myself out of bed, I stand up, and I give myself a little bit to be alone and grumpy, and then I move on and pretend that mornings are JUST the best instead. You know what is so fun to do? My roommates and I always great each other in the morning with a huge smile and say, "Good morning Sunshine!!! The earth says hello!!" 
2. Treat the people you are around like you are just so excited you have the opportunity to see them today. Sara and I have one class together, and on Fridays our schedules work out that we can ride the bus to class together. It's the most exciting time of the week!! When you are with someone, BE PRESENT. Be with them! Appreciate them and what they have to say. Notice if they are happy or sad. Care about them and let go of your own responsibilities and worries for a little bit to be present with them. It is so rewarding, and so fun. Get excited when someone comes home! Even if you saw them an hour ago, it makes them and you feel good when you get excited for them to come home. It makes the days more exciting and gives you something to look forward to.
3. Ok, whoever decided that grocery shopping isn't fun is just SO wrong. Like, I don't see anything about it that wouldn't be fun. You get to push around carts (and when people aren't looking, even race with them!!!), you get to buy delicious food, and you get to get out of the house for a little while. How could that possibly be not fun?! My best bonding moments are with my roommates Megan and Sara on our grocery shopping trips each Saturday morning. We get in the car, Megan puts together an awesome playlist of fun music, we roll down the windows, and we jam the whole way to Walmart. Then we get to buy more frozen pizzas and milk and cheese, and then the car trip starts over again! GET EXCITED OVER THE LITTLE THINGS. 
4. MAKE PLANS. Fun plans. The amount of movies and road trips our group has planned is actually unreal and very impossible to accomplish, but we're sure gonna try! In September, our apartment planned that when October came, we could set up our decorations for Halloween. So when October came around, the anticipation was at its boiling point and we were so excited to put up our decorations. (Special thanks goes out to our moms for sending us cheap but wonderful decorations). When you let yourself make goals and plans - even silly ones like doing your laundry and buying an ice tray - you have something to look forward to and an excitement to feel.
5. And ok, I get that life gets stressful. Trust me, I'm a full time student with exams and essays and I have a huge, busy calling and I'm looking for a job and I totally get that life is stressful. And sometimes you can feel overwhelmed and tired and just like you're not good enough and you can't do everything. But to quote a dear friend of mine, "Stop it." STOP LETTING STRESS TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE! It's okay to be stressed and tired sometimes but its not okay to be stressed and tired all the time! Don't give that much of yourself up to something so destructive and manipulating. Good ways to get rid of stress: 1) Listen to lots of music. Does it matter what kind of music? Nope. Not even a little bit. Listen to what you want. Listen to what makes you feel good. 2) Dance!! Dance it off. When you're in your car alone, turn up the speakers and dance, and in fact, sing super loud while you're at it. 3) Take breaks. Schedule your time and give yourself time to just lay outside and stare at the clouds or to play a game.
6. GET INVOLVED IN THINGS. And this could mean a million things. I'm super involved in my church. Other people are super involved in research and academics. Some are involved in music. Sara is involved in puppies. Chase and Chandler are involved in their family. Mariah is involved in Supernatural (we like to tease her about that). Even if you're just involved in something tiny, give yourself something to be a part of.
7. WRITE THE MISSIONARIES. Oh boy, Mondays have gone from the worst day of the week to almost the best day because so many emails!! I have a ton of friends on missions right now and it is so great to hear all about the people they are teaching and the things that they are learning. Their insight on things brings way better perspective in my life. They are so fun to hear from.
8. Here's one that you probably don't hear too often when thinking about having fun, but it definitely works. STOP EXPECTING SO MUCH FROM EVERYONE AROUND YOU; START EXPECTING MORE OF YOURSELF. You can't expect people to know everything you're going through and to never make mistakes and to always be happy. You can't blame someone else's rough day for your rough day. And you can't expect other people to stop having good days because you're having a bad one. Life doesn't work like that. Start focusing on what you can do to help yourself feel better and what you can do to help other people feel better. You all know the quote... "Ask not what your country can do for you..."
9. Go on adventures. And I don't mean skip class and call in sick at work and drive to Yellowstone National Park for the day. Although, that would be SO fun. I mean MAKE ADVENTURES OUT OF THE LITTLE THINGS. Going to the grocery store is an adventure. Going to the library to study with your roommate on a Saturday is an adventure. Going onto campus to the post office to buy stamps is an adventure. Most nights of the week, our group gets together and watches a movie before bed, but on Monday we decided that since Chan had to scan his project in the library, we would get a study room and watch our movie there. It was an adventure!!! Make every little thing exciting.
10. And here's what it really comes down to: FAKE IT 'TIL YOU MAKE IT. I cannot even try to lie and say that I am happier than everyone else. I can't pretend that I don't have hard times and rough days. In fact, I have rough times every single day. Things that go wrong that throw me off and mess with my mood. Every day. It happens. It's life. Faking it doesn't mean that you hide these hard times from everyone around you. It doesn't mean that you lie to yourself that you're happy. That never works, and it never helps. But it's okay to forget about that sometimes. It's okay to make life a game and pretend you're Lewis and Clark on an adventure. It's okay to pretend you're a princess while you get dressed for church. It's okay to pretend you already have the habit of reading your scriptures every night. It's okay to pretend that you're always optimistic. Because the more you do it, the more it will come natural. 

     Guys, life has the potential to be infinitely more enjoyable than we make it. Doesn't mean our problems go away, doesn't mean life gets easier, but why would you waste life not enjoying as much of it as you can? It doesn't last long. This time that I'm in college will go by so quickly and I'm determined to make every day count. No matter how many tears come at night, no matter how homesick I get, no matter how hard my classes are, I can get excited about dinner. I can get excited about laying in bed. I can get excited about riding the bus with Sara on Friday mornings. These things are worth enjoying. Pretty soon I'll get the chance to get excited about afternoons because the morning sickness will go away. I'll get to chance to be excited about how much of the house I can get clean while the kids are at school. I'll get the chance to be excited about the little chocolates they pass around at church on Mother's Day. 

     I think I've been blessed with the best roommates and friends out there. They lift me up, they support me, and they encourage me to have fun in whatever I'm doing. I hope that everyone has friends like that. 

Snow 107 Love Life Update:

Mariah - Not even too sure what happened to Pizza Guy.. Actually guys, she is in a relationship with Dean Winchester. (Main character on Supernatural.) (He's hot.)

Holly - She and Ginger peeled potatoes together for the Linger Longer after church. He was very nice. Dinner didn't end up happening so we're all like, "Dang it Ginger!"

Syd - Still has boyfriend. Also, boys just really love her.

Megan - We don't know how we feel about Guyliner right now. Mostly negative but this may change. It changes a lot.

Sara - Actually JK she is looking at boys. We're not too sure where this is going.

Mads - ...still workin' on it.