Trying Something New

A couple Sundays ago, half of the Sunbeams didn't show up for one reason or another, so I got to go to Relief Society.  The lesson was on Developing Our Talents.  This lesson is probably one that I have had maybe a billion times at church, so I wasn't really expecting much.  The teacher followed the manual pretty closely and allowed others to share personal experiences.  She shared a simple list about how to develop our talents:

1. Discover our talents
2. Spend time and effort to develop our talents
3. Have faith that Heavenly Father will help us and have faith in ourselves
4. Learn skills necessary to develop our talents
5. Practice our talents
6. Share our talents

I'm really bad with details, but the teacher told us a story about discovering our talents (not out of the manual) that really got me thinking.  The gist of the story was that there was a person that had trained all of their life to be one thing, but then they suffered an injury that kept them from doing that, so they started something completely new and now they are REALLY famous for it.  Dang, I am a bad story teller, but I swear I knew who the person was (because they are really famous) and I was like, "Wow, if they hadn't gotten that injury, then we never would have seen this talent that they're famous for."

Then, the sister next to me, told a story about how when she was pregnant with one of her children, her husband was away at sea, she was getting restless, and needed something to do.  One day, she decided that she would like to paint.  She had never taken a class in her life and knew nothing about painting.  She brought a painting kit, took a couple classes, and she found out that she is an amazing artist.

So I started thinking... 

Is there a talent that I have that I haven't discovered yet? What if my undiscovered talent is like REALLY cool?  I think I should try some new things!

So, out of all of the things I've decided that I could do, I decided that I wanted to be...

a RUNNER.  

I know for many of you that doesn't really seem like a talent, but exercise.  But, I think that runners are awesome.  What a cool talent!  Not everyone can run... I sure can't.  I wish I could be a runner, but I've never actually tried.

Until yesterday, I had never gone out and walk/jogged/ran by myself a day in my life.  The day before, I was talking to my teacher friend on the phone and she was telling me how productive her day had been AFTER she had gone for a run.  When she had called, I had just woken up from a three hour nap in the middle of the afternoon and I had done NOTHING but eat waffles and cereal, check email/Facebook, and play with my iPad. Hearing about her productive day and mentally comparing it to my own was enough.  I decided that the NEXT morning I would start running. 

So, yesterday morning, I got up, put some exercise-like clothes on and went running.  It was THAT simple.  For some reason, the weird part was leaving the garage and STARTING.  I've always seen people running through the neighborhood, but I've never seen someone start their run.  So I did, and guess what?  It wasn't bad.  In fact, I woke up this morning and did it AGAIN.

During my summers off, I usually get sleepy around 11am and want to take a nap.  Most days during the summer unless I have other plans, I usually do take a nap.  The last two days that I've been running in the mornings, I get this unexpected energy boost and I feel great afterward.

The logical side of me also tells me that this is a way to become healthier.  My body is a temple.  I should be taking care of it better by exercising and eating less bacon cheeseburgers and spicy chicken sandwiches.  I'll start with the exercising part and work on the food part later. :)

I'm hoping that I can keep it up at least for the summer while I'm off school.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll like it and become good at it.  I kind of stink at it right now and can only run for like 2 minutes at a time, but I guess its a start.

I've always been the type of person that let experiences find me.  I think I'm going to start seeking out new experiences.  I'll want to try new things and not worry about failing.  Maybe along the way I'll pick up a new talent or two.

Memorial Day Weekend

Doug and I drove down to the Cumberland area to visit with some friends over Memorial Day weekend this year.  It was a last minute sort of deal, so we didn't even leave until Saturday.  Doug has recently upgraded my computer, so we gave our old computer to the friends we were staying with.  There are actually some Americans that do not have a computer OR the internet.  It was their first desktop computer and it was fun teaching them how to use it.

While we were in the area, we decided to go strawberry picking at Higson's Farm.  Doug went there as a kid and has some very fond memories.  While we were driving there, Doug scared me by suddenly putting on his brakes, pulling over, and running out of the car.  He came back with this!

Meet Turtle... I didn't know that it was in Doug to be rescuer of turtles, but apparently it is.  He picked him up and returned him to a nearby stream safe from cars.

Minutes later, we arrived at Higson's Farm.  We had been wanting to go here to pick strawberries for a while, but I believe the family that runs the farm is Seventh Day Adventist or something, so their Sabbath is on Saturday.  Since our Sabbath is on a Sunday, it makes it hard to get in on a normal weekend.  Thank goodness for four day weekends!

Here are some pictures of Doug and I while we're picking strawberries.  This isn't the most flattering picture of me.  Doug usually wakes up a full hour before me and by the time I was awake, he was up and ready, rearing to go.  I wasn't going to let him go strawberry picking without me so, I just left with him at that moment.  I'm wearing what I wore to bed the night before.  I haven't showered, brushed my hair, put on make up, or do any of the other stuff I usually do to make myself public friendly.

 

Not many people these days drive yellow cars.