you do you, girl

"You do you, girl."

After being in a foreign country for a while, coming home to the idiomatic phrases of English was a little jarring. I heard words like salty in contexts that I had never heard before. My siblings rattled these phrases off like nothing significant had changed in their language, but to me, it felt more foreign than Spanish.

I heard the phrase, "You do you, girl," so much. It was rather self-explanatory, so I didn't search it up on Urban Dictionary ... but I did wonder about how it applied to me in my life.

I should do me. I should be true to myself. But what on earth did that mean? I really didn't know the answer until recently.

College has been a huge eye opener to the possibilities and horizons that lay endlessly before me. With every day of learning and becoming more involved, I feel like this feeling of opportunity focuses in and intensifies itself. One of the amazing things that college has given me is curiosity and a passion for life-long learning.

For the longest time, I have felt this passion with little to direct it towards. I sporadically have jumped from interest to interest. All the while, I have felt like I was stuck between an ADHD of being overwhelmed by the many options of life and at the same time waiting for something meaningful to stick for longer than a couple of weeks.

However, as my studies have deepened, I have felt a deepening of my interests and direction. I find that all truth (spiritual and temporal) is connected, and I love to look for it. I now feel motivated by the things that are callings to me. I feel called by my church calling, but I also feel called by Spanish and learning everything I can about it. I feel called by being a mentor for the Disciple Leadership Conference, and I feel that same sense of calling from my job as EFY counselor. These callings have honed in on my sense of purpose and have thrown me onto an enjoyable and fulfilling path.

BYUI has been promoting something called P2B for the entire semester ... basically, from the posters that lined the halls I gathered that P2B was a hip conference for young professionals looking to learn networking. From the raffle prizes, bowling and Mario Kart tournaments, and rounds of putt-putt golf, I gathered that BYUI was really invested in the program and worried that this thing was going to flop. I passed by these things and refused to make eye contact with the people running the stands because I wanted nothing to do with it. If BYUI had to make such a fuss about this program, they were obviously trying to hide something fundamentally flawed about P2B.

The buzz continued, however. My friends were signing up by the dozens, either to get extra credit or because they were sucked in by the hype-tables. In solidarity and as a sense of duty to the school, I joined with them and bought a ticket. I kept my expectations pretty low, but I found that I was catching on to the hype. I wanted to participate in the Mario Kart competitions. I wanted to win the prizes. I was hooked.

The conference was AMAZING. Filled to the brim of life changing awesomeness. It was worth every cent of the 10 dollars I paid to go. I felt the Spirit SOOOO strongly as I was there. It whispered, "You're in the right place. Right now you are in the right place." As the speakers talked about finding passion and pairing it with success, I was stunned to realize that I have the remarkable blessing of KNOWING what my passion is, knowing the path that I'm on is acceptable to the Lord, and knowing what lights me up with the ability to move forward.

I am driven when challenges arise, when I have a chance to be an influence for good, when I feel needed, when I am given the chance to overcome my own weaknesses. I have learned and continue learning about who I am. And then I try to be true to those things that I discover. That is my passion.

I am who I am, and the atonement makes it possible for me to become more of the person that Heavenly Father sees me as every day.

So, I do me. And you do you, girl. When paired with Heavenly Father's guidance, it is so rewarding.