Tag Archives: struggle

You Don’t Know How Strong You Are Til Being Strong Is The Only Choice You Have

“You never know how strong you are…until being strong is the only choice you have.” Over the course of my adult life I’ve gone through some really hard things that at times have been so painful I didn’t know how in the world I would ever be able to get through them. There’ve been days […]

A Parents Thoughts To Their Child On Graduation

In yesterday’s blog I shared that my daughter Ashley graduates from BYU tomorrow (Friday April 24th 2020).  I also shared the thoughts she wrote about the things she learned from her college experience. Today I thought it fitting for me to share a parent’s thoughts to a child that’s graduating, so here are my thoughts: […]

Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not […]

Advice For The Overwhelmed

Today was one of those days where when it comes to an end you just want to curl up in a ball and cry because you’ve had one thing after another pile on you so fast and furious you don’t even feel like you have time to breathe, let alone catch a potty break or […]

Be Content…See The Wonders

“Everything has it’s wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” –Helen Keller Feeling content….that’s a concept I struggle with because I have always found that not being content with things as they are has been the great motivator for me to try harder, to […]

What I’ve learned over the last 46 years

Tomorrow I will turn 46 years old. 46…why does that sound SO old?  I suppose its because I remember as a child looking at adults who were 46 years old and thinking “they are SO OLD” 😉 Most past birthdays I have dreaded getting another year older, and I suppose there is a big part […]

Strength comes from overcoming obstacles

There are a lot of times in life we question why we have to go through really hard times. Years ago someone shared this story with me. I have probably shared this before with all of you but it just seemed like it was worth sharing it again today: Parable of the Butterfly A man […]

“One you have experienced excellence, you will never again be content with mediocrity”

Dr. Charles H. Malik, former Secretary General of the United Nations, once shared: “I respect all men, and it is from disrespect for none that I say there are no great leaders in the world today. In fact, greatness itself is laughed to scorn. You should not be great today—you should sink yourself into the […]

Principles of Peace – An Easter Message

Peace…We can’t turn on the TV news or listen to the radio without hearing daily reports of worldwide tragedies, of acts of hatred and terror, of wars and rumors of wars. There is not much peace to be found in those reports. And on top of that we are all going through our own personal […]

The Power of Empathy and the Comfort of Knowing Someone Understands

Tonight I had the opportunity to speak to a group of students and their parents involved in the YEA! Program which stands for Young Entrepreneurs Academy (www.yeausa.org ) , a non-profit program for students in middle school and high school that teaches kids to generate business ideas, do market research on their ideas, write business […]

Remember when business travel sounded glamorous?

I still remember as a kid when I would see someone walking through an airport in their business clothes, obviously heading somewhere important, I would think to myself how someday I hoped I could have an important job like they did where I would be jet-setting off to important meetings. It just appeared to be […]

What appears to be a sacrifice now will prove to be your best investment later

We live in a world where the options seem to be endless, but instead of making life easier, sometimes that make our lives more difficult. For example – when someone asks you where you want to go to lunch it isn’t just a choice of hamburgers or pizza….noooooo…there are literally hundreds of places to eat […]

From Strangers to Friends

For the last two days I was invited to be part of a special project in which I was introduced to 28 strangers who came from incredibly different backgrounds and who had incredibly different personalities. This particular group of people would likely never have crossed paths with one another in the course of normal life […]

Opportunities come when we actively seek to do good

First, I want to take the quick opportunity to say “Thank You!” to all those who sent birthday wishes my way. I can’t think of a better birthday gift then words of kindness from others and I received that today in spades 🙂 I also want to share with you an amazing birthday gift I received today […]

I wouldn’t trade it for a thing

“Your best stories will come from your struggles. The seeds of your success are in your failures. You praises will be birthed from your pains. Keep standing. I have never seen a storm last forever. Seasons change. BE ENCOURAGED!” This past week my son and his wife decided to take a trip to Mississippi to […]

Purchasing Analysis Paralysis Disorder, The Struggle is Real!

I don’t know about all of you but I personally have been stressing out over trying to find the perfect gifts to give for Christmas this year. I take giving gifts seriously because I want my gifts to reflect how much I love people. I want them to be personal and thoughtful. So when the […]

Don’t Disappoint the Man (or Woman) in the Glass

If you had to choose just one virtue to uphold in your life – choose integrity. It will always be your most valuable asset. It is worth more than money or power or fame. You have complete control of this asset and no one else can ever take it away from you. It is yours […]

Those Words A Parent Never Expected to Hear

As those of you who follow my blog know, my son Dalton recently got engaged to his sweetheart and we are now in full blown wedding preparation mode. Because they want a short engagement it is like wedding planning central at our house with invitation selections, picking colors for the reception, figuring out venues, booking […]

Worth While

I really appreciate poems and quotes and talks that remind me of truths we all know, but too often forget. This poem was written over a hundred years ago but its message is still relevant to all of us today: Worth While  by Ella Wheeler Wilcox It is easy enough to be pleasant, When life […]

You Never Know How Strong You Are…

“You never know how strong you are…until being strong is the only choice you have.” Some days you come to the end of your day feeling like you have taken all you can take…you have given all you have to give…dealt with all you can possibly deal with…you literally feel like you are at the […]

“No matter how you feel…Get up. Dress up. Show up. And never Give up.”

“No matter how you feel…Get up. Dress up. Show up. And never Give up.” That is going to be my mantra for the next few days to help me get through things. As any of you who follow my blog know, today I sent my daughter off on a mission for The Church of Jesus […]

This is One To Add To Your Goal Posters!

This week I was able to snap a picture of something that I am absolutely going to add to my newest goal poster.  If you don’t know about my goal poster than you seriously need to search my blog posts for “goal poster” and read about it.  The Goal Poster is MAGIC! And everything I […]

“I’m Grateful For All The Things My Parents Didn’t Do For Me”

Tonight I received a phone call from one of my dearest friends who is out of the country right now traveling.  He said he was thinking about me and my husband today because he realized I was probably saddened with my kids leaving off to college and he just wanted me to know he was […]

Making Memories

“We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.” This summer has been such a special time for me. I have been able to have so much fun with my children and the memories we will walk away from this summer with will be with me forever.  The most interesting […]

Improving Our Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is a topic we read self-help books about and go to workshops to try and improve.  Everyone struggles to some extent with questions of their own self-worth.  It is a constant struggle for many people.  I believe that the key to self-esteem is to stop worrying what other people think about you and start […]

Breaking Bad Habits

Today I am going to share a very impactful analogy that a counselor once shared with me. It was an analogy that literally changed my life and I hope that it can help some of you that might be facing challenges in breaking bad habits that are holding you back from finding real happiness, so […]

A Good Life

“A good life is when you assume nothing, do more, need less, smile often, dream big, laugh a lot, and realize how blessed you are.”  – Anonymous Is it really that simple to have a good life?  In many ways I actually believe it is.  I really think that so much of our level of […]

The Most Beautiful People

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not […]

“Accept what it is, let go of what it was, and faith in what will be.”

I have thought a lot about changes lately as I just spent the last several days with my daughter and her high school friends on a trip to Las Vegas for her Senior Spring Break trip I had promised to take her on.  The timing of the trip couldn’t have been worse as we are […]

Some Days I Forget

So much to do, and not nearly enough hours in the day to do it. I get so frustrated when I work my guts out all day only to come to the end of the day feeling like I have barely scratched the surface of what I needed to get done.  When that happens day […]