October 11th- Stress turned to gratitude

    This past week has been insane, I have had 3 midterms to take in all of my hard nursing classes, I am back to working at both of my jobs for a total of 20 hours week, and life has honestly just been so stressful! I have been feeling so overwhelmed and like I am failing at everything I am doing. I felt spread too thin, like I had too much going on and was not able to enjoy life. Then Sunday came around, and it was the first time that I was having two-hour church since I was on my mission in Germany. I was so excited to go to relief society and learn more from other amazing sisters in my ward. We just had the sweetest teacher who taught an amazing lesson on weaknesses and failures that I really needed to hear. She told a personal story about a time that she almost did not try something because she was scared that she would just fail at it and all her efforts would be wasted. This thing was applying to the BYU nursing program. I immediately lit up because I could personally relate to this, as I was also scared to go through the hard pre-req’s and study really hard just to not get into the program. The conclusion of her story was that she ended up getting it and is so grateful she tried something even though she knew failure was a possibility. A girl in the class made a comment on how she had a similar experience, except she did not get into the program. My heart immediately just sunk for her, how disappointing that would be. The girl making the comment went on to say that it ended up being an answer to her prayer that nursing wasn’t for her and she was to pursue another career path in which she could still help people, just in a different way. The spirit then overwhelmed me, telling me to be grateful. It hit me that what I was blaming my stress for, was something I was originally so excited to be a part of. When I found out in June that I was accepted into the program I was ecstatic. Then I thought about it, and I have really been enjoying what I am learning. It is hands on and interesting. I have made so many great friends already in the program. I was where I wanted to be, doing what I wanted to do. I needed this lesson to step back and realize I need to look at everything with gratitude and not just as a burden.  Ever since I have been so relieved and just so much happier because instead of constant complaints, I am just doing my best and enjoying the blessings given to me by Christ. Through this experience I know that Christ is aware of my life and wants to constantly bless me, sometimes I just need to realize that things are indeed blessings and focus on the joy rather than the stress.