My Happiness

Welcome back to my blog, friends. Guess where I am writing from today?... Good old Park City, Utah. I am home and it's great. The mountains are beautiful, my house is one thousand times nicer than the dorms, and most of all, I get to be with some of my favorite people on this planet. It couldn't get better, right? Well, the thing about everything being all good is that it is simply not possible. No matter where you are or what you are doing there will always be difficult things, big and small and it's easy to let these obstacles block your view of the great things in your life. I absolutely love my home and I absolutely love summer, but coming home stirred up some old feelings and some unfixed problems that I sort of forgot about when I went to college. So in the spirit of moving past hard things and living every summer day to the fullest, here are 10 things (in no particular order) that make me happy when I am feeling the blues, maybe they can help you too.

1. Exercise
Yep, you guessed it. If you know me, you know that I love to exercise. Sometimes I think I love it a little too much because when I am forced to take a few days off, my mood goes from 100 to 0 real quick. But, on a more serious note, exercise has made me the person I am today and has taught me that hard work and resilience are essential in order to get better at anything and also to feel satisfied with yourself. The time I get to spend outside breathing in the fresh air, is the best time I spend. I hope that never changes.

2. Making people laugh
Contrary to popular belief, I do have a sense of humor. I can prove it because I took a quiz once that told me that humor was the single most important thing in my life, also if you know me well enough, you will be graced with my shart jokes on the daily. Honestly nothing (except maybe exercise) gives me a dopamine rush like when I see someone laugh because of something that came out of my mouth or when someone says a really funny joke that makes me legit laugh (not that fake laugh crap). I believe that everyone, no matter how serious they seem, has a sense of humor and really there is no better way to take the sting out of a painful experience than by laughing at it. Awkward conversation...lol about it later, Accidentally trip while striding confidently in public...laugh it off! Spend your Friday night alone with Netflix... Oh freaking well, we have all done this! The point is, I think the world takes things too seriously. I realize that life is not a joke and there are deep lessons and stuff, but I've read that laughing makes you live longer, so it's worth a try.
*Note: I realize that I am sort of a hypocrite when I write this because I sometimes give off the appearance that I am the most serious person on the planet who has never murmured a "ha" in her sad life, but trust me, that's not who I really am.

3. Nice people
You know when you are having one of those days and then someone just comes along, most likely a stranger, and they are abnormally friendly? Those people make my day and are the true MVPs of the world. They don't care if you are giving off depressing vibes or appear cranky, they will be nice to you anyways! I remember one day at NMU when I was headed out on my afternoon run and I had had a particularly lonely day. I was running past this guy, who looked like a college student as well, and he just looked at me with a big smile and said, "have a nice run!" And bam! I was knocked out of my circling inner thoughts into the real world, where friendly people exist. I love nice people and hope to be one someday ;).

4. Dancing
Seriously people, I love to dance. And I think almost everyone loves to dance as well even if they would never admit it. If you are ever having a crappy day and want to turn your mood around, I would suggest turning on some tunes that make you at least feel groovy and chances are the moves will come along as well! I will admit that if I could redo my life and go after a different passion, it might be dancing, because I love it, but don't count on ever seeing my sweet dance moves unless you have gained my total and complete trust. Sorry.

5. My dogs
This one is sort of a given as dogs tend to bring joy to the world in general, but my dogs specifically bring my sorrow to a stand-still. They are the best therapists around, I tell ya'. On a relatively unrelated note I had a long dream last night about hugging my dog (and my lover) Sitka which either means I really miss him or I am subconsciously attracted to canines, either which could be true.

6. Accomplishments
This one is something that I try to keep in mind everyday because it's really easy to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes it seems like everything in your life is going wrong and this is when it's important to remember the times when things were going well and how you felt during these times. It could be as small as when you helped someone carry something or get a good grade on a test or in my case, have a great race. Don't feel bad about reliving that moment when the going gets tough, because if you keep going and don't give up, you will have more moments like that.

7. Taking a moment
I know this blog seems a little bit peppy and overly-positive, because let's be honest, life isn't always great and it's not supposed to be. I've struggled with anxiety and sadness and have certainly had my fair share of failures. So I know that struggles are inevitable and they aren't something to be ashamed of. If anything, you should be more proud of your struggles than your greatest accomplishments because it's easy to do great but it's extremely hard to struggle. When I'm having a hard time, I try and take a moment, no matter how long that moment is, to be sad. Don't just try to force the feeling to go away because it needs to be acknowledged. Take a walk, watch some Netflix, cry, talk it out, whatever it takes to get the feeling through you.

Anyway, thanks for reading. This post will probably end up helping me more than anyone else, but if you are going through a hard time and want to try any of my very unoriginal methods, go right ahead. :)
<3

Sophie Went to College!

Hello, I would like to thank whoever gave this blog one page view in the last year, I seriously appreciate your support. Well guess what, it's your lucky day because I have just rediscovered this blog and it just happens to be that summer 2k16 is starting in 6 days so I can start writing again! A lot has happened this year and I can genuinely say that it has been one of the best years of my life. For those of you who are living under a rock and are new to my widely popular blog, I am a nordic skier and cross-country runner attending Northern Michigan University in Marquette Michigan. I'm a little rusty on this whole blogging business and should really be studying for finals right now, but I'll give it a shot, because I feel like it. So, for all of you who have been anxiously awaiting my review of the last year, here you go.
I love college. Yep, it's true. It has been a really great year, one of the best of my life and I feel like I have sort been changed by it. I came into this year pretty terrified of what was to come. I have always been very dependent on my parents and I honestly didn't know if I would be able to physically survive without my mom bringing me breakfast and my constant support of my family and friends. I really expected myself to crumble. But actually, the opposite happened. I wouldn't say that I blossomed, because I didn't, but I think I got to know myself a lot better and it turns out we get along pretty well. Because I didn't have someone always offering to help me, I was forced to do things for myself. I felt a sense of joy and confidence when I would walk to class, big college-student me, after lifting weighs at 6:30 AM and submitting all my assignments on time while getting my full 9 hours of sleep (note* this was at the beginning of the semester...). I felt pretty good, and I still do. Although I was around a lot of people in college, I spent a surprising amount of time alone, but I actually liked this. I would find a quiet place when I needed some space and I would just chill out, in fact I'm doing that right now. I enjoyed most of my classes and actually loved a couple of them. The training was amazing and I worked harder than I ever have and I am a way better athlete now than when I arrived. I'm so so happy with how it all went. I would never want to go to a different school.

But okay, there were some rough times too. I don't like to say that I got homesick, because I never cried or got super depressed about missing home, but boy did I really miss Park City and all of my people there. I have never talked on the phone so much in my life and I spent way more time than I would like to admit reminiscing on all the good memories I've had at home. I had a serious case of "the grass is always greener on the other side" type of thing, because although I loved school and I felt great, I still felt like things in Park City would be better. I would get extreme sudden urges to call my parents or my #1 homie Kaila even when I had just talked to them the day before. Sometimes I felt pretty alone. As I've established, I don't mind being alone, but it sucked when I felt left out, although I know it was my fault sometimes. I had some pretty extreme anti-socail behavior cases and I just wished that I could jump into people's friendships. BUT I did make some great friends and I love everyone on my team.
All in all, it's been a great year, I've loved it, even the hard parts
BUT
I am soooo excited for this summer. This year has made me realize how lucky I am to have such an amazing family (Kaila included) to keep me grounded. Here's to an amazing year of college, an even more amazing summer to come, and more blogging!!

:)
<3