You Really Need to Read This Book

#clickbait

Welcome back, after a ridiculously long hiatus from blogging for no apparent reason. I’m ready to get back to some regular posts, so look forward to those coming soon!

Today I want to talk about The End of Me by Kyle Idleman and why you need to read it.

The first thing I want to mention is that this is not an easy book to read. I mean, it is theoretically an easy read, the words flow really well and it has a conversational tone that makes it enjoyable to read. The content is another matter. I could say that the book is about laying down your own desires in favor of God’s plan, but that wouldn’t even begin to describe how intensely convicting it is. The point the author makes in the very first chapter is that in order to end the control that “Me” has over your life, you need to be broken. You need to come to a point where nothing remains but an empty heart, an empty life, and a cry for help.

I think the reason this is so hard for us is because when we think of broken, we think of something that is damaged, useless, incapacitated and hopeless. So if we’re broken, that must mean that we’re damaged and hopeless too, right? Wrong. That’s not what God sees! God sees a person who’s broken as someone who is desperately crying out for help that only He can provide. He sees someone open. Every shred of pride and arrogance is stripped away, and nothing is left but a broken body and a beating heart. These are the people God uses for amazing things because they aren’t hindered by their own pride.

I struggle with pride. I like to think that I have control over my life… Recently God showed me that, actually, I’ve deluded myself into thinking that I’m in control. Control issues stem from pride, which comes from our sinful nature. Our sinful nature tells us that the first priority is ME, MY plans and MY desires come before anything else. Conversely, the Bible tells us that the most fulfilling life comes from pursuing GOD’s plan and GOD’s desires. I don’t know about you, but I like that second option better. It’s a lot less stressful to let God work things out rather than trying to carry it all by myself. Let’s face it, we weren’t created to be able to control everything… If we were, we wouldn’t need God. Humans need God. It’s as simple as that, and we need to stop deluding ourselves into thinking that we don’t.

So in conclusion, give this book a chance. I promise it’s worth it. It’s so hard to swallow, especially for someone like me who really wants to be in control. It’s ridiculously hard to give up on “Me”, but we have to in order to live up to our full potential in Christ. I’m still struggling with it, but you and me, we can do this together. Step by step, day by day, saying no to Me and yes to God!

The Pursuit of Self-Discipline

 

So, this is to be the week of self-discipline. I’ve been a little obsessed with “getting my life together” over the weekend, and this week I’m hoping to see it play out in some positive ways. Honestly, I don’t think anyone is truly put together. Everyone has their bad days. However, I really want to try to establish some good habits. Now that I think about it, a week is a really good place to start, but it’s going to take WAY longer.

Taking advice from several other bloggers, pinterest, and numerous other sources, I compiled a list of things that I can do to practice self-discipline, create good habits, and overall be more productive and energetic this week. Hopefully you can benefit from this list too!

1. Start every day with bible reading and prayer.

For a lot of people, this might be a no-brainer. And to those people I say, good on you. Personally, this has always been a challenge, due to the fact that I am most definitely NOT a morning person and taking the time in the morning was difficult for me. However, I’ve found that when I do get up earlier to take that extra 15-20 minutes of devotional time before I start my day, I’m generally a happier, more pleasant person to be around because of it. Plus, I’m committing my day to God which somehow ends up making me way more productive. 🙂

2. Exercise first thing in the morning if possible.

Another super super hard one for me… I’m typically quite lazy, especially in the A.M. It’s way too easy for me to choose to roll over for an extra half hour in bed rather than get up to do pilates with Mum. Regardless, choosing to exercise first thing in the morning is super important for me, as it gets the blood flowing, wakes me up, gets me feeling really great, and even simply choosing to do something good for me rather than staying in bed sets a much more proactive mood for the day. For the record I failed this one this morning, but there’s still time left in the day to fit in a quick pilates sesh or maybe a walk around the block. Tomorrow morning, though, I’m gonna do it. And now that it’s been published on the internet, I kinda have to! 😉

3. Set goals (personal and practical) for the week.

Setting goals is so very important. It gives me something to work towards, keeping me motivated. A rewards system always helps too. 😉 Some of my goals include making sure to journal every evening, finishing the book I’m currently reading (The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, reading it for the umpteenth time and loving it more than ever), and cooking dinner twice this week. Goals keep me focused and driven, and the completion of said goals brings an undisputed sense of accomplishment. I look forward to feeling like I’ve earned my weekend! xD

4. Get an agenda (if you don’t already have one) and USE IT!!

I can’t stress this one enough. I have a planner that my parents bought me for Christmas last year, and honestly, it’s been great. I was just at Chapters flipping through gorgeous Kate Spade planners that I can’t afford, and despite what Pinterest says, you don’t need a fancy one to be able to plan your life. One of the best things you can do to keep your week organized and in perspective is to lay it all out in a planner. You’re less likely to forget appointments or due dates, and you reduce the chances of feeling like a hot mess by 10000000%.

5. Turn off your phone at least half an hour before bed, and read instead!

That rhymed! Unintentionally. I’m awesome. Anyway, everything you’ve heard about blue light from your phone affecting your sleep is TRUE. You. Will. Sleep. Better. And when I say turn off, I mean TURN OFF. Don’t just lock the screen. It’s better for you, and it’s better for your phone battery to actually turn it off at night. As for reading, it’s a fantastic way to calm yourself down and prepare for sleeping, as well as sneakily improving your vocabulary and overall brain function!

6. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep.

It’s true, some people need around 10 hours of sleep, whereas some people need only 6 or 7. I tend to need about 9 hours of sleep to be able to function at my very best during the day. Figure out how much sleep you need to be most productive the next day, and commit to sleeping that much. You’ll be doing yourself a favour!! EVEN IF IT MEANS WATCHING ONE LESS EPISODE OF GILMORE GIRLS. I know it’s hard, but you can do it. 😛

I think that about sums up the six things I’ve committed to doing this week to become more productive and put-together. I’ll check back in on Friday to let y’all know how it went!

Limits

So, I’ve been working on limits in my Calculus course… and it’s kind of killing me. Here’s an example:

The mathematical definition of a limit: the limit of f(x) as x approaches c is the number L if given any radius e > 0 about L there exists a radius g > 0 about c such that for all x, 0 < |x – c| > g implies that | f(x) – L| < e.

Now, I definitely didn’t put that up there to say look at me, I’m so smart. Those two lines of text up there mean absolutely nothing to me. There are way too many letters, for one thing. And to be honest, it’s a whole whack of mathematical mumbo-jumbo that probably means something to someone, but definitely not the average person. Needless to say when I came across this in my textbook, I started freaking out a little bit. “How am I supposed to understand this??? I mean, it makes about as much sense as if the guy who wrote the textbook just banged his head against his keyboard for a few seconds and said, boom, there’s a definition right there!”.

Anyway, I decided to just go straight to the practice problems and try to figure it out for myself. Reading goofy tongue-twister theorems like “the limit of the sum is the sum of the limits” got super confusing, but I found that once I put them into practice they actually made a lot of sense! Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the definition of a limit that I put up at the beginning of this post, but does anyone really?

You know the quote, at the top of my blog’s homepage? Life really is like math. I mean, take this whole limits thing for example. When the author of my textbook tried to explain to me their own understanding of limits, it meant absolutely nothing to me. But when I experienced it for myself, I was able to understand it and put it into practice. Have you ever met those people who talk and talk and talk but you never really get the sense that they actually understand what they’re talking about? I can be one of those people sometimes… Basically it’s the difference between book learning and experience. Trying to talk about and explain something that you’ve had no personal experience with is first and foremost really hard, because you don’t truly understand it, and also tends to sound a little bit pretentious, not unlike the definition at the beginning of this post. Sometimes all it takes is personal experience to learn and understand for yourself before attempting to teach others.

Okay, rant over. Enjoy the rest of your day! xD

50 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked – Part 2

Remember when I did half of the 50 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked tag? Well, here’s the other half! If you missed the first half, read it here.

26. Do you know triplets? No. That would be really cool though.
27. Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook? I’ve never seen either movie. But for the record, there was totally room on that door for both Jack and Rose.
28. Have you ever had Indian food? YES IT IS AMAZING AND THE VERY BEST.
29. What’s the name of your favorite restaurant? Um… It’s probably Yama Sushi. Again, I don’t eat out very much.
30. Have you ever been to Olive Garden? Yes. It wasn’t a life-changing experience, but it was decent food.
31. Do you belong to any warehouse stores (Costco, BJ’s, etc.)? I BELONG TO NO ONE.
32. What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender? Alexander. I totally would have been okay with that.
33. If you have a nickname, what is it? Fosi. My older sister came up with it when we were really young, it’s the two consonants in my name switched around. 🙂 it’s cute. Just fyi, she’s the only one who can call me that.
34. Who’s your favorite person in the world? Don’t make me choose only one!!!
35. Would you rather live in a rural area or in the suburbs? Depends on what time of life I’m in. As a teenager/young adult, I would prefer the city, but my childhood in the country was perfect and I would want the same for my own kids.
36. Can you whistle? Yes. I learned when I was… 10 maybe? and it was my greatest accomplishment that year.
37. Do you sleep with a nightlight? No… I actually prefer total darkness when I sleep.
38. Do you eat breakfast every morning? Yes, after all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
39. Do you take any pills or medication daily? I should take vitamins daily but I often forget.
40. What medical conditions do you have? Does bad eyesight count?
41. How many times have you been to the hospital? Once, to visit my mom when she got her appendix taken out. 🙂
42. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo? I watched it over and over again when I was a child, to the point where I actually got so sick of it that I didn’t watch it again for about 8 years.
43. Where do you buy your jeans? Wherever they sell a pair long enough.
44. What’s the last compliment you got? If “you’re right” counts, that was it.
45. Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning? Only if they were particularly memorable 😉
46. What flavor tea do you enjoy? Long Beach Sunset chamomile mint, only because it holds a ton of memories for me.
47. How many pairs of shoes do you currently own? 3 or 4?
48. What religion will you raise your children to practice? Christianity. I don’t think I need to elaborate, I mean I think that’s pretty obvious based on the theme of basically every post on this blog.
49. How old were you when you found out that Santa wasn’t real? I never believed in Santa. Santa was a non-issue. And before you ask, I did in fact have a beautifully magical childhood, even without a fake fat man in a red suit.
50. Do you have any strange or unique phobias? I am scared to death of needles, but that’s not strange or unique.

I really love doing these answering questions tags. It gets me thinking! It’s somewhat of a self-awareness exercise. It’s great! Anyway, hope you enjoyed yet another post full of weird and random facts about me. 🙂