HAILEYANELA

As this winter semester and my freshman year of college is coming to a close I have been reminiscing about all of the wonderful memories I've made and all of the fantastic people I've met. I've learned so much while I have been away from home. I’ve learned that if I want to get any amount of homework done my room has to be completely spotless. Or else my room and my brain will be cluttered. The key to not spending money on unnecessary things is to leave your wallet at home. Anything can be fixed with superglue. Spandex hot pants NEED to be worn under jeans in the wintertime or you WILL freeze. (This is a guarantee). The key to not buying a ton of random groceries is a shopping list….but even then you may deviate from it. Staying up until 3 in the AM then trying to drag through the day with the help of a Diet Pepsi doesn’t always work. Some people will become your friends, and sometimes you’ll make out with your friends. Living from one weekend to the next isn’t...

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There’s so so much that I am immensely grateful for. Ok so  rewind; I was kind of down this morning because I have to make a decision and I’m really  skeptic and afraid of either of the outcomes. So here I am at a crossroads standing still  worrying, not making a choice. And while on my little morning stroll to class this AM I saw a  post on Insta from my main girl Julianne Hough…..  This entire time I had been viewing my  situation as a burden, something that I was afraid would swallow me whole. In no place in my  mind had I seen this as a blessing to be thankful for. Immediately I was overcome with a sense  of gratitude and happiness for what I had and what I had spread out before me. And so, with a  sense of motivation to start my day and a spring in my step I started listing off the things I am  thankful for. I’m thankful for the sunshine on my face...

Do you ever think you know someone? You think you know how they act and their intentions...Like I thought since we were hanging out everyday and you kept taking me on dates and we kept kissing and holding hands that it meant that you were going to officially ask me to be your girlfriend. But boy I was wrong. Never would I have thought that you were just using me to pass the time until your girl came home. How was I supposed to know that you were the cat and I was the mouse? That all you wanted was a plaything to keep you distracted from her absence? I get that I may not be the best prize, but you at least could have given me a heads up. I'm tired. So tired of being everyone's second choice. Their second option. Their plan B. My friends keep telling me that I deserve to be someone's priority and all they want. But I'm really starting to doubt that, because I keep coming in 2nd and I feel like that's all I'm destined for. To be somebody's back up plan.

It was a normal Wednesday afternoon. I was just sitting in my International Studies Class happily pinning away, just trying to waste time until the professor arrived. Mr. Lamoreaux announced to the class that we had a guest speaker from China Horizons who wanted to speak to us concerning a very possible and exciting experience teaching abroad. He spoke of how we could go to China and teach english to chinese students. We would be there for four months living on campus (they are private boarding schools), eat their food, experience Chinese culture, have time to travel, and the best part of it all is that its only $925! The dream I had to travel abroad was becoming a very near reality. During class I once again pulled out my laptop but this time I wasn't on Pinterest; I was filling out my preliminary application to be a volunteer teacher in CHINA. Immediately after class I called my mom and told her the news.... Actually I told her I was engaged first so that I could let her down eas...

I have this great friend *Ty who kinda came to pass because we put each other in the friend zone. Convenient, ehh? Anyways, Ty is super motivated about anything and everything in life; he's just one of those go getter kind of guys. When he was a teenager he was super rebellious and did whatever he wanted but he's really straightened out since he's grown up and matured. Now he's actively filling out his mission papers, a straight A student, and is already making plans to attend medical school when he returns home. So last week I had the pleasure of hanging out with him; we made brownies and watched a movie at his place. At one point during our baking fun he told me that there was so many things that he want to accomplish during this lifetime and he just wants to seize every opportunity available to him. And then it got me thinking. What things am I not accomplishing or doing due to the fear of rejection or judgment? Everything that happens in life goes by in the blink of...