Delightfully Enlightened

Stressed? Me too. Photo Credit: studygram via tumblr.com My to-do list for school seems never ending. And if I'm lucky enough to find myself away from academic to-dos, I find myself faced with a new stress. Like staring at a pile of laundry that probably weighs more than I do, that I could wash. But then who knows how long it'd be left in the washing machine to wrinkle and grow mold? Ew. My point is that I am extremely   s t r e s s e d. And I have a slight inkling that I'm not alone... So, what do you do when you have too many to-dos? I have a few ideas for my fellow stress-freaks. 1. Pray.  It's very easy to look at a gigantic to-do list and be overwhelmed. But God is bigger than every to-do on that list (yes, Amy, including the ACT). He is also overwhelmingly generous with His peace. Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed upon you." So, whe...

*This post is different from my norm, but close to my heart, so bear with me!* Photo Credit: @anthemlights via Twitter Every girl has a couple of artists that they tirelessly listened to growing up, and pictured above is one of mine: Anthem Lights. Anthem Lights is an American Christian group originating from Nashville, Tennessee (thanks, Wikipedia ). I was first introduced to Anthem Lights because of their mash-up of popular songs in 2012. After that, my interest for their music grew as I discovered more of their unique mash-ups, covers, and original songs. Over the years, this band has been a source of incredible music for me, personally, and I wanted to share that. For starters, here is a link to their personal site . Like all bands, they need as much support as they can get. So, if you can, be sure to follow them on social media, buy some merch, and download some songs! And here are my personal favorite Anthem Lights songs: Can't Ge...

Photo Credit: Pete Amachree If you could time travel to one point in the past or future, what time would you go to? When this prompt was given to my blogging class for our blog carnival, my mind immediately jolted to a period in history I've always been fascinated with: the 1920s. The 1920s highlight the pitfall of the human heart: greed. These years depict what happens when we allow gluttony to dictate our lives. During this time, everyone gravitated to an need for instantaneous gratification, elevating themselves at the expense of others. The selfishness of the human heart was exemplified, not just on a national level, but a universal level. That's the part that boggles my mind-- the extreme greed during this time wasn't limited to one group of people, but became a universal social norm. I think it would be interesting to go back in time and watch as humanity went through this period. How did we reach this peak of depravity on such a large scale? Wha...

"Our world needs kindness more than ever right now and without change, destruction will continue to ensue. Take the vital lessons from this situ ation and push yourself to be better. Life can sadly be taken very easily and because of this you should reach out with compassion to your loved ones and live beautifully while you still have the opportunity to." ~Bridget Lynn This past weekend, my hometown became the landmark of the biggest massacre in United States history. That statement, in and of itself, is hard for me to say. See, Vegas itself was never the victim. Growing up there, I watched the news cover the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. I heard about the Boston Marathon bombings of April 13, 2013. And I read articles about the 2015 San Bernardino attack. But, for all of those events, life went on. Because, for many of us, we are taught that life goes on. But life shouldn't go on. For me, this massacr...

With my long-standing goal of majoring in secondary education, I've developed a strong obsession with TED Talks. Particularly TED talks that highlight education, success, and humanity. For those of you who don't know what they are, TED Talks are basically educational "talk" videos recorded from conferences held by the TED organization. In other words, they're a way to watch incredible speakers talk about their passions and discoveries from the comfort of your own home (or, if you're like me, your less-than-comfortable desk chair). In the spirit of the TED slogan, ideas worth spreading , I've decided to share one of my favorite talks with you for this week's post. Check it out (and feel free to explore all of the talks TED has to offer here )!

This past weekend, I attended a youth retreat and the speaker made a joke about how every girl has about seven "best friends". He then proceeded to say that this makes no sense because you can't have seven friends who are the best. This got me thinking: why do we call it a best friend? The term "best friend" could potentially create a lot of unnecessary competition. What do you do if one best friend get's jealous of another? Or wants to be the only one? Not that some girls don't do that anyways, but why encourage this competitiveness with such an exclusive term? Now don't get me wrong, I am 100% guilty of using the term "best friend". In fact, I probably overuse the term. However, I've never used it with the intention of placing one friend in rank over another. So here's my new dilemma: if I'm going to use a term so frequently, what do I mean by it? In other words, what is a "best friend"? Photo Credit: Bridget...