Sparking Your Happiness

I want to discuss the concept of positive and negative triggers. But I didn’t really like the idea of just writing something and slapping the word trigger on it so I am going to call it a “spark”.

There are different things in our lives that can spark a memory. Things like a song, smell, or sound, can even spark traumatic stress, anxiety, or discomfort for some. An old picture can spark feelings for someone. Most people associate triggers and sparks with negative things and they talk about how once they have a bad experience with a certain stimulant, it will forever cause them to have bad feelings if they interact with it again. They live the rest of their lives consciously avoiding certain locations and experiences. Or perhaps if you get into a fight or break up with someone you try to avoid them as to not spark any unwanted romantic or upset feelings.

On the other end of the spectrum, how often are we consciously planning to spark positive feelings aka plan our happiness? Just like if you are afraid of big scary dogs and you avoid big scary dogs with everything you have, if you are really desiring something positive in your life.. How bad do you really want that if you aren’t planning for that to happen in your life? You don’t just hope that you get a hair cut and see what happens, you call and schedule an appointment with a stylist. You don’t just hope that you get into college, you work hard in your classes, take the ACT, and apply. We could go on for ages of examples of everything in your life essentially requires active input on your part.

With that being said, when is the last time that you wished you were happy? Did you look around at your life and examine how much of a conscious effort you were making to be happy? Now this isn’t rocket science and it doesn’t take a master planner to make this happen. Simply, plan things that will spark your happiness. And don’t let anything come in your way. That’s not to say that the universe will provide a force shield around you. But that IS to say that it will provide a positive force to propel you forward. Some examples could be planning to get yourself your favorite treat (Mango Mountain Dew every Tuesday of my life). It could be planning to exercise every day, walk to your favorite building on campus every Wednesday after your hardest class. First task is to think about what sparks your happiness, whether that be a person, place, song, food. Second task is to put it into your schedule and essentially plan your happiness.

The additional benefits of you planning your happiness are several, allow me to explain a few simple ones..

1. When something comes from you and your heart, you are committed to it. You will be more committed to your happiness and therefore
2. You will become more accountable for your life and spend less time making excuses when you are the one creating it.
3. Your confidence increases when you realize that other people can contribute to your happiness and the substance in your life but that you are the main source.

I hope that this helps you realize how much more control you can have by planning simple things to spark your happiness into your daily life and your weeks.

Give it all you got,

Ella

Organizing Your Happiness

Alright alright so I’m finally getting it in my head what I want to write about. I’m majoring in communications right now but ultimately I want to get a masters in Organizational Psychology or Comm. I am fascinated by the machine like structure of all the different facets of an organization and that the effective system of such structures can greatly impact one person. 

That being said, our lives are organized into different systems and structures and like a business or company, they require attention and effort. If we are to achieve the root of all our desires which is happiness, we much focus on the organization of our lives. In my posts I intend to shed light on different ways to focus on, improve, and create better communication to those parts of our lives. For example, if I want to be more in shape (spoiler alert, I do), how am I going to communicate that? I’m going to go to the gym more often, focus on different parts of my body, and create a routine involving different workouts, accountability, etc. 

Ultimately as we focus on improving all the systems in our lives, we are organizing our happiness or planning to create happiness. Many people hope that good things happen or wish for greatness to fall into their lives. However, the universe can’t reward you for something you don’t ask for. And last I checked the universe doesn’t read minds so you have to SHOW the universe what you want. And it won’t happen by itself, success is never an accident. You have to PLAN for it. 

So there’s my first invitation: what is something you want in your life and when’s the last time you made a plan to ACT and create movement towards that goal? What organization of your life needs more attention in order to produce this?

The world is waiting,

Ella 

Undecided

Hello all. It’s been a while. Have I felt like I should start writing about things that are important to me for almost a year now? Of course. But now I’m in a class where I HAVE to write about something that is important to me on a weekly basis. I have bounced around the ideas of organizational psychology (what I ultimately want to study) and happiness and being productive and blah blah blee blah. But I decided that nothing comes to those who wait so I’m just here writing a blog post about nothing in particular and as my lil thoughts start coming and formulating over the weeks then I will share them accordingly. Sometimes it might be about Jesus or dating or taking care of your body but overall I do want a theme of “TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE AND DO WHAT FEELS GOOD” type of vibe. Who knows maybe I’ll post a vid, a spotify link.. But I’m a super big believer that we can’t just wait around to make things happen which is why I am STARTING TO BLOG AGAIN AND NOT JUST WAITING FOR THE PERFECT POST IDEA I AM JUST GOING TO WRITE OKAY I REALIZE I CAN’T BLOG ONE THING THEN NOT DO IT OKAY THANK YOU. But to whoever graces my presence with their viewing eyes and reads this, I love you and you’re great and I will see you next week.

Beauty

So often in this world we measure beauty in numbers and what we see with our eyes instead of what we feel with our hearts. We measure beauty by the amount of attention we receive or don’t receive. We measure beauty by lots of things and beauty isn’t really something that can be measured so why do we do this to ourselves?

I haven’t always felt beautiful and there have been people in my life that have made me feel beautiful but I am finally at a place in my life where I feel beautiful. On my own. And it took me 19 years to get here but I’m here and I’m not looking back. I feel beautiful not because I have a flawless complexion or because people say nice things to me but because I tell myself that I am beautiful and I focus on the things that make me feel beautiful! And I don’t give time to the thoughts or people who don’t. If I feel myself start to stress about how my pants fit or what my hair is doing… I immediately brush it off because when I woke up that morning I told myself that I am beautiful and I am not going to let anything change that.

What makes me feel beautiful isn’t my skin or what I see when I wake up in the morning, it’s doing the things that I love and just being myself! Drinking Mountain Dew three times a day and wearing my hair in French braids to make me feel like I’m 12 and wearing dad shorts from the DI and hiking til I want to puke and dancing in parking lots to Matt & Kim and writing letters to my future self and overusing exclamation points and making covers of songs with my ukulele that I’ll never show to anyone and going to the temple early in the mornings when it’s dark and peaceful and composing songs on the piano while it’s raining and meeting new people and sending mix CDs to friends in the mail and letting my dog sleep next to me and long boarding until 5 in the morning and making my bed everyday and sharing music with people and sending random texts to friends I haven’t talked to in a long time and jumping off a bridge at night by myself into freezing cold water and talking to my little brother about his day and getting super sweaty at concerts and hearing my friends get excited about something and laying in bed crying at night because I’m so happy and seeing the way my little sister lights up when she tells me about something that she researched on the internet that day and sitting on my roof looking at the sky and (finally) holding hands with a boy for the first time (like 3 months ago) and listening to my favorite songs as I fall asleep and waving at strangers in traffic and wearing my favorite thrift store finds even if they are a little baggy and getting sunburned until my shoulders look like the back of a deer and driving around at night sticking my head out the window while some holds the steering wheel and learning about the universe and getting to the top of a mountain and feeling so small and listening to someone talk about their family and getting texts from my older brother and laying on the grass in front of the temple with my best friends and sharing the gospel and my mom waking me up with fresh fruit and my dad giving me the “hang loose” sign and listening to classical music and wearing collared shirts and feeling warm inside when the entire house gets lit up by the sunset piercing through the open windows and reading an article that changes how I look at something and laughing at myself and finding butterflies while I’m hiking and driving all night just to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon and hugging a person the first time I meet them and rubbing my eyes without mascara on and giving my money to people on the side of the street and finding a scripture that answers my prayers and telling people what the rings on my fingers mean and holding babies and thinking about how they were just with Heavenly Father and wearing orange lipstick and running til it hurts and loving til it hurts and feeling the spirit in nature and taking pictures of people when they aren’t looking and laying in my driveway while it’s raining in the summer and hearing someone say my name when we’re talking on the phone and getting cuts on my knees/arms while hiking because it makes me feel more alive and because feeling alive is beautiful to me and watching a YouTube video that uplifts me and when some appreciates a song I love and telling someone why I want to serve a mission and trying new things and doing something that makes my heart feel like it’s going to beat out of my chest because I’m so nervous and going to bed after talking with someone and falling asleep with their words as the soundtrack to my thoughts..

This is what makes me happy. This is what makes me feel beautiful. Moments and feelings make me feel beautiful. Shirts with flowers on them are beautiful and eye shadow is beautiful but those things aren’t what make me beautiful. They help me feel beautiful but they’re different because you can buy them and they don’t sit in your head and in your heart and keep you awake at night and make you want to get up in the morning.

And I know there’s other beautiful people in this world, but JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE IS BEAUTIFUL, DOESN’T MEAN YOU ARE ANY LESS BEAUTIFUL. 

You wouldn’t look at a mountain and wish that it had sand, waves, and salt like the ocean. You don’t look at a sunset and say “oh man I wish it was a little more orange over there and maybe the clouds were a little softer over there”. We love nature because we know that it is Heavenly Father’s way of telling us that He loves us and we know He made it perfectly just how it is. He created this world for us to enjoy and it is the SAME with people! He created each of us with different qualities so that we could all uplift each other and enjoy each other’s spirits. Just because you have different qualities than someone else, doesn’t make you less beautiful. SOMEONE ELSE’S BEAUTY DOESN’T TAKE AWAY FROM YOURS!! Your flaws were given to you by Heavenly Father. They are blessings, not curses. Don’t compare your flaws to someone else’s strengths.

“You don’t have to be perfect to inspire others, inspire others by how you deal with your imperfections.” You were created beautiful and you will die beautiful. Nothing can change that. The only thing that changes is whether you see it or not. And one day you will find someone who thinks your flaws are the most beautiful things about you and I think that’s going to be really cool. Life is so beautiful and sometimes I don’t think any of us ever really realize it until it is taken away from us in the form of leaving a place we love or losing someone we love. Life is short. Don’t ever fall asleep without thinking about something that makes you smile. Do what scares you. Exercise because you love your body, not because you hate it. Post what you want. Say what you feel. Tell people that you want to spend time with them and then do it. Do what feels good to you regardless of the calories or how late it is or what people say. If you enjoy doing something, what someone else thinks shouldn’t change that right? It’s what makes YOU happy and YOU beautiful, not them.

Happiness is a choice. Jesus Christ suffered all the ugliness of being sad and confused and disappointed so that when we feel that way, we can take it to Him and have it lifted from us. We are humans so we will feel these things as a part of life but He already suffered through them so we didn’t have to do it alone! It’s called the Atonement and it’s real and I know this because I use it on a daily basis. The Atonement can not only save us from our sins but can make us feel beautiful and happy despite of our flaws, mistakes, and afflictions (notice that flaws and mistakes are two different things). And it’s there for us everyday. We have the gift of using the Atonement every day, all we have to do is open it. I know this is easier said than done because the world laughs at us when we turn away from it.. But the laughter of the world and the “happiness” of the world is truly just a small scratch on the surface of the happiness that fills our lives when we invest ourselves in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

This started out as a typical post about beauty but is ending with a testimony of the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ because He is truly to ending to everything. He is also the beginning of everything! The beginning of feeling happy and beautiful and confident and lovely and everything we want to be. Every happily ever after happens through Him and through following our Heavenly Father. Being true to Heavenly Father is ultimately being true to ourselves for we were created in His image. When we follow His plan instead of our own, He will give us everything we need to feel happy because He knows what will ultimately bring our spirits the most happiness! I know that’s true. I haven’t gotten to a happily ever after yet because I still have more mountains to climb and lessons to learn but I know I will. Until then I’ll keep finding more songs and people and writing and places that make me feel beautiful and happy. And if you’re reading this, I hope you do too.

xoxoxo,

E

 

A few pics of some beautiful moments and beautiful people.. (click photo to read caption)

Snapped this lil shot of Brooke as we left the temple a few weeks ago, I just said goodbye to her last week.

On my way home from Heber. Somehow things just look more beautiful when you’re viewing them from behind your windshield.

After saying goodbye to a friend leaving on his mission to Spain, my friend Brett and I raced down to watch the sunset in the river bottoms. As I snapped a few pics my phone went weird and made it blurry but I really like this photo. It’s crazy because Brett’s on a mission now too.

Looking out over south Utah County from Squaw Peak.

Passing through the canyon on my way to Logan after spending the day in temples with Tate who’s now on his way to Bangkok.

Another sunset pic, another friend gone on a mission.

No pictures will ever do justice the majestic-ness of watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon.

Beginning of the switch backs up the Hidden Oak Trail. Lived 10 minutes away from this for 10 years and just discovered it last week..

View from a pit stop we made on our way to Seattle.

Snow shoeing up Hidden Oak Trail with my mom and brother.

Grand Canyon sunrise silhouette.

Taken as we raced to see the sunrise at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for the first time.. We barely made it

My roommate Tanner always stuck her head out the window like this and one time I snapped a pic of it.

Sunset by the river near my old house in Spanish Fork.

Grand Tetons.. Be still my soul.

I don’t think I will ever in my life stop loving sunrises and sunsets, especially when shared with friends.

Rock Pile Beach, Laguna Beach, California. Less than an hour after this picture was taken we were hit by a tidal wave that took our keys. We didn’t realize at the moment that we would gain so much more in friendships and life experience than what we lost in the ocean.

Look Up

You can never get your hair to part perfectly straight. Sometimes you snort when you laugh. You care way too much about what music is playing when you drive in the car. In the mirror you look at the bumps on your nose and the gap between your teeth and don’t even notice the green specks in your eyes that everyone loves. You have never been great at sports and you can’t sit still to watch a football game on T.V. even if your life depended on it.

You embarrass yourself more than anyone else you know so you have learned to laugh at yourself. Despite how healthy you want to be, you can never pass up a vanilla ice cream cone or sleeping through your alarm every Saturday. Sometimes you spend more time thinking about people and how they work than you do actually talking to them. You write in cursive that nobody can read and you forget to fill your car up with gas.

Look up.

You were created by a Heavenly Father exactly the way the He needs You to be. He could have created you a little taller or smarter or a little less pale. He could have given you longer eye lashes and a better singing voice. But He didn’t because he created you to fulfill a divine purpose. A divine purpose that doesn’t require anything that anyone else has and doesn’t require a number of likes and followers. Do you think He cares about what you’re posting? NAHHH. SO NEITHER SHOULD YOU.

He created you and every single thing about you to perfection. Even all the weird things you over analyze and stress about before you leave the house. And someone, someday, is going to love all those qualities just as much as He does. All the same detail and beauty that is put into every sunset, snowflake, and starry night sky was put into creating you. You are his finest creation.

SO START ACTING LIKE IT.

LOOK UP.

YOU ARE PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL AND YOU ARE ENOUGH.

You’re MORE than enough actually.

Don’t stress out if you don’t fit into a mold or even into a pair of jeans! The number inside your pants is not the size of your potential or your beauty so don’t pay attention to it. Wear what makes you happy. DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY. Post what you want (obvs be nice). If you see a cute boy walking your way, don’t get nervous and pull out your phone and act busy. It will make your day and his if you flash him a confident smile and say hi.

WE WERE CREATED TO BE HAPPY and it’s hard to do that if we’re comparing our weaknesses to someone else’s strengths and wishing we were different. Stop looking in the mirror and start looking at others. Heavenly Father created them for a reason too, find that reason out and tell them how great it is because you might be the first.

Stop looking so much at what you are posting and everyone else is posting. It will still be there in a few hours. Put your phone away for a while and you will find that your insecurities will follow as you learn to live for yourself and not for anyone else. There are people that Heavenly Father puts in your way for a reason! Don’t miss out on them and don’t let them miss out on YOU.

I recently went off ALL social media for a month. I don’t tell you that because I think I deserve a Nobel Peace Prize (cookie dough ice cream will be fine) I tell you that because it was AWESOME. Not awesome enough to stay off forever because I love sharing fun pics and laughing at sassy tweets just as much as everyone else. BUT, amazing enough to show me how many opportunities I was passing by to say hi to new people and be more productive when I wasn’t looking at my phone.

Look up. You were created for so many amazing things. Go find out what they are. Look for ways you can help others instead of ways to be like others. Become your best self, not a second rate version of someone else, right? Say NO to the haterz (including yourself) and YES to a happy life of loving yourself and others.

xoxo,

Ella

The Ultimate Woman Crush Wednesday

HA! If you’ve clicked on this link then there’s no going back now. Unless you’re a boy. This post is for girls, but you can read along if you want in on this secret. I’m pretty positive you clicked on the link either expecting to see 1) A classy picture of Audrey Hepburn and listen to me talk about being a lady 2) A sassy snap of someone like Amy Poehler- one of my favorite people or 3) A Victoria’s Secret Angel..

NO NO and double NO. None of those ladies deserves to be titled the ULTIMATE “Woman Crush Wednesday”. For some reason it has become more and more popular lately to post pictures on Twitter and Instagram of the lovely Blake Lively or the fierce Cara Delevingne (yes I did google how to spell her last name). As gorgeous as these ladies are, they are in a small percentage of our human race that have been given super awesome DNA and look flawless every time we see them. Even then, they have make up artists and personal trainers and oodles of people to help them out while the rest of us only have our roommates and Pinterest. SO, if they are in the minority, why are we using them as the judgement bar for ourselves and others? WHY?

So guess who it is? Guess who the most beautiful, powerful, important woman is?

IT’S YOU.

YES.

You. You with the double chin that comes out every time you’re at dinner with your best friends. The snort in your laugh. You with the freckles and the gap in your teeth and the uneven eyebrows. You with the hair that never stays curled or anything that you might deem as imperfect in yourself. You with all of your imperfections are beautiful. Our imperfections are what make us beautiful! So let’s embrace them!

Because BEAUTIFUL DOES NOT REQUIRE THE WORD SKINNY. Beautiful does not require a perfect hair cut or a perfect wardrobe. Beautiful does not require a boy or certain number- GPA, weight, followers on Instagram.

Being beautiful means that you love yourself. Being beautiful means that you love others and help them to feel beautiful too. Beautiful is being happy, confident, passionate, and caring. And I think we all know that, it’s just so easy to get persuaded by what we are looking at on our phones to feel otherwise. So it’s up to us to stop looking at our phones so much and start looking for more ways to help others. And if we happen to pass by a mirror on the way, it’s okay to stop and look as long as we tell ourselves how great we are, right?! Because we all deserve to be happy and feel beautiful no matter what we look like or what anyone else says.

Let’s be beautiful. Let’s be our OWN “Woman Crush Wednesdays” (or whatever you wanna call it). Let’s be bold and wonderful and let’s be all the things our hearts desire!

XOXO,

Ella

Why You Should Care

“The less you care, the more happy you will be.” “Oh, it’s no big deal.” “It doesn’t really matter.” “It’s whatever.”

These are phrases that we hear and say every single day. It’s time to stop.

Lately I have noticed that it’s become a trend to not care about your life. If you’re sad about a relationship – whether it be with a friend or a lover- it’s okay to just brush it off and act like everything is fine. IT’S NOT FINE. When you are feeling heartbroken or disappointed and you feel hurt, it is because your heart matters. Your feelings matter. GUESS WHAT? It’s okay to feel sad and upset! It’s okay to eat an entire sleeve of birthday cake Oreo’s (on sale at Albertson’s FYI) and cry because you’re missing home or missing friends. It’s okay to take a long bath and listen to sad songs. It’s okay to be sad. GOT THAT?

At the same time, it’s okay to be excited. It’s okay to get butterflies and to feel giddy or ecstatic. You should never feel like you need refrain from venting to your friends via group messages and getting excited out about everything from matches on Tinder to first dates and episodes of Teen Wolf. Whether it’s a dance party in the kitchen on a Sunday night because you’re loving life (and by life I mean the rotisserie chicken you bought for dinner) or because “he” finally texted you.. being happy and being excited is something that should be expressed as freely as it comes.

Last but not least: Don’t be upset with yourself for “loving too much” or “caring too much”! When did it become a flaw to put your heart and soul into something? You should put everything you have into everything you do. Every friendship, relationship, homework assignment (k that’s debatable), every letter you write or song you sing in the shower.

You should care. You should care about every detail of your life. You should care because YOU MATTER. Your life matters, how you feel, what you think, it is all important. It makes a difference. You should care, because if you don’t then who will?

xoxo,

Ella Bellz

What I Wish I Knew In High School

Greetings high schoolers. Whether you’re an all too sassy sophomore, a junior, or a high and mighty senior, listen up. Right now. Before you begin to hate yourself/life in general because of the lack of a summer holiday, let me tell you a few things about why you should be thrilled to be headed back. Not for the multiple choice tests or the toilets that don’t flush and the tardy bells and harsh teachers, but for the over time touchdowns and racing out of the parking lotS to lunch. The good stuff.

I’ve been at college for almost a week and I can already tell it’s not going to be easy. Living with strangers, college classes, eating microwave macaroni for at least one meal a day, ect. I know it’ll be an adventure but I also know I’m going to miss high school a lot. Did I give a couple fist pumps while walking out of my last class? Sure did. But I lived for football games and dances and I MISS IT. (Go ahead and sue me all you high school h8ers) There’s a lot of things I wish I would have taken more advantage of and realized instead of focusing on what I was wearing to prom or how many times I could be late to class before I got detention.

Without any further introductions I present to you what I wish I knew in high school:

– First off. BE YOURSELF. For the love of everything good, be yourself. Be true to yourself. I know that you’ve heard this almost as many times as you’ve heard your own name but it’s SO TRUE.

– Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your future children to do. Let that sink in for a sec, k?

– If you need to cry, cry. Crying doesn’t make you weak and it doesn’t make you any less cool. I’ve cried in front of countless teachers, seminary teachers, co workers, and friends. Am I embarrassed? Not at all! ( like 30% embarrassed). But it’s best to embrace your emotions and get them all out instead of holding them in!

– That kid in the drama department who runs the lights and wears checkered belts and shoes, who everyone avoids because he’s different? Talk to him. He could be the friendliest kid you’ll ever meet and he could be waiting for someone like you to show some compassion. Reach out to kids. You never know if you are saving or changing a life by a friendly hello!

– It is your sole responsibility to see that your best friends get asked to a dance before you do. No questions asked.

– Being late to class doesn’t make you cool. (actually it depends on the teacher) (JK) I know it probably feels cool to walk in 40 seconds late into a silent class room and slide into your seat while the teacher burns your soul out with her demon eyes but SRSLY BE ON TIME TO CLASS. I didn’t think it mattered that I was late so much until I once had to serve 9 hours of detention in one week *______*

– Step 1 to taking online classes? Don’t. I took the final test for my online government class 2 HOURS BEFORE GRADUATION. Don’t believe me? Ask the teacher who had to come down to the school and proctor the test for me. Bless your heart, Mrs. Applegate. If you do (and this goes with all your other classes), DON’T PROCRASTINATE.

– If you come to the games and don’t cheer loud, you are dumb. If you come to the games and you sit down and don’t cheer at all, you are reallllllyyyy dumb. Having school spirit is cool, ok?

– Friends: If your best friend gets a boyfriend/girlfriend, make sure you still stick to their side. Even though they won’t spend as much time with you, most high school relationships/flings don’t last 4eva! They’ll need you once that special person is gone. Choose friends who will take you to higher places. Choose friends who will make you better people. Be a good friend to have good friends. Also, look for the kids who don’t have friends! High school is rough and nobody can do it alone.

– STRUT LIKE YOU MEAN IT! (Cheetah Girls reference, HOLLA) Most kids are too concerned about what they look like to notice the zits on your forehead or your lack of trendy clothes so just work whatever you got! It’s the person inside the clothes that really counts, right? Just be confident and help others feel confident about themselves.

– GIVE RESPECT TO GET RESPECT.

– Be nice to your teachers! You have to put up with them for an hour a day tops. They have to put up with dumb kids all day every day so don’t think you’re cool if you are a brat to them! Be their friend! Some of the people I miss the most are my teachers. (That one’s for you, Denise Daniels)

– GIRLS: Modest is hottest. Your future daughter is going to look through all your old dance pictures and either be disappointed or proud on what you were wearing. Hash tag: sorry not sorry??

– Don’t skip seminary. No amount of sleep and Taco Bell will make up for the spirit and feelings that you get in seminary.

– Work hard, play hard. It all pays off. A.k.a. apply for scholarships, go to the ACT study classes (something I never did), and be dedicated to your school work!

– FAMILY MATTERS. You won’t realize how much you love your family until they’re gone or you’re gone! Take time to become best friends with your siblings because you won’t have time later in life.

– Don’t think that the lack of being on a certain team, council, or in a certain club makes you anything less of a person than the people who are. Everyone has a specific role and just because you don’t have a t-shirt for it, doesn’t make it any less important.

– At the same time, don’t be afraid to get involved! I’ve tried out for things and NOT made it many more times than when I have made it. Don’t let one loss ruin your ambition to have fun and do the things that you want to do in high school.

– DO THE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU. Regret is eternal and you’ll remember the moments when you conquered your fears for the rest of your life. Don’t be influenced by people to make choices that you wouldn’t otherwise.

– Be crazy, but don’t be stupid. There is a difference between going “HAM” at a dance and kissing people on the football field at midnight and breaking the law and hurting yourself.

– Sometimes you’ve gotta live for yourself. Don’t do it for the likes, the re-vines, or the applause. Go hard at something with everything you have and make yourself proud of something.

– Smile at everyone you see. Talk to everyone you see. Uplift everyone you see.

– There is ALWAYS a silver lining. Work your hardest and be yourself and things will always work the way they are supposed to be.

– All those times of feelings sad and lonely because A. Nobody has a crush on you, B. Your crush isn’t crushing back, or C. Your friends are disappointing you.. One day none of that is going to matter. One day you will be happily married and that boy who you wished would’ve asked you to Homecoming won’t matter! Don’t waste time feeling sorry for yourself about things that are temporary.

– Don’t be too hard on yourself. Push yourself to be your best but you are still in high school so realize that you have a long way to go. Right now will most likely not be the prime of your life. If things aren’t going your way, that’s okay. Your time will come.

Good luck to everyone in school this year! Don’t waste a single moment because before you know it you’ll be in a cap and gown and you will be wanting to go back and enjoy it all again (if you do it right). And remember that you’re never alone, the universe will always be rooting for you. There’s no such thing as a bad life, just a bad day. If any of you ever need advice, come to Bella Ella and I’d be happy to help. 🙂

xoxoxo

Ella

P.S. Thanks to my angel roommate Tanner for the help on this one.

Do Not Let Your Spark Go Out

sparkle (v.) 1 give off sparks 2 reflect bright moving points of light 3 show brilliance

Everyone is born with a sparkle, or a spark.

A light, a glow, a warmth in their soul. Then you grow up.

You get your knees and your heart scraped up. You go through things that you always thought happened to other people and that there is no way that they would happen to you. At times you may lose your faith and it may take you losing something even bigger to find it. After all your heartbreak, your taking-the-road-less-traveled, your struggles and your trials, your spark has become dull. It isn’t gone, but it barely casts a shadow.

We are all human and we will all have our fair share of wind and smoke, trying to diminish or put out our spark.

Do not let your spark go out.

DO NOT LET YOUR SPARK GO OUT.

If you’ve had your heart broken 3 times (by the same person). If you’ve had your heart shattered to pieces and run over by a semi truck. Do not let your spark go out. If you have had to say goodbye to someone you loved, or maybe they left you without a goodbye, do not let your spark go out. If you have been disappointed by your heroes or left behind in the dust. If you feel like you can help everyone, but can’t find the means to help yourself. Do not let your spark go out.

If you feel like your spark might not be as bright as someone else’s and therefore it isn’t as beautiful. You are wrong. Do you think the stars lie awake at night wondering if they are as bright as the stars below them? They don’t. They just keep shining and burning and they don’t stop or give up even in the darkest of nights. Neither should you.

If you feel like you are insignificant and that if your spark were to go out, if you were to give up, it would not make a difference to the world. You are wrong. Do not let your spark go out.

YOU ARE IMPORTANT. What you do every single day, even the stuff you don’t think matters, does. Because YOU matter. The words you say to your co workers, your friends & family, and most importantly yourself, matters. No matter what you have been through or what you will go through in this life, do not let your spark go out. There is so much goodness in this world. For every storm there is rainbow and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. The world needs your spark. The world needs your smile and your light.

Do not let your spark go out.

xoxo,

ella

“Going on a Mission and Preparing While In High School” a How-To ft. Elder Budge

Going on a mission and preparing while in high school. Sounds simple enough right? Well for most of us, high school isn’t easy. So preparing to serve the Lord for 2 years in a different state/country probably doesn’t make it easier. I sat down with my friend Mitch Budge (now known as Elder Budge) and we came up with a list of things that we think could help some of us as we are preparing for missions. Side note: we’re not pros, so if we left something out, don’t sue us.

Here we go:

Get a testimony and work on it every day.

Read the Book Of Mormon (obvs)

Have an actual desire to go on a mission. Not your mom’s desire. Not your best friend’s desire. It’s got to be YOU.

Pray to your Heavenly Father about it.

Girls: Remember that going on a mission is a desire of your heart and not a trend.

Both genders: If your three best friends and your seminary teacher tell you to put in your papers, that doesn’t mean you have to. Put them in when you’re ready.

If you don’t feel ready to go on a mission, you’re probably not. Nobody ever is. But, if you question your worthiness even just a little bit then you should clear that up.

Don’t get stressed if you see missionaries coming home early or hear stories from elders and sisters out in the field. Everyone will have different experiences. Everyone will have a different set of skills and everyone will have different trials.

There’s no need to be scared. Heavenly Father is watching out for you. Naturally you will be nervous but as long as you’re making righteous decisions everything will work out.

Don’t be afraid of your bishop, stake president, or anyone else helping you with mission prep. They’re there to help you, not judge you. Even if you have something you need to clear up with them, Heavenly Father gave them their callings to help you so don’t stress! If you feel like you’re being judged, those feelings are from Satan. Heavenly Father wants you to feel worthy.

Don’t worry about missing out on fun at home. Don’t worry about your friends at home. Your friends will be replaced by investigators and companions that you’ll spend time with and talk to. You’ll have your whole life to get snow cones and go swimming on hot summer days. A mission has expiration date.

Make a bucket list of things that you want to get done before you go on your mission. Have fun and live it up (righteously of course). YOLO but don’t break the law. “Don’t ever spend a night at home.” – Mitch. Realize that whether you like it or not, nothing will ever be the same, so make a goal to have some closure with all the relationships you have. That includes bad or negative feelings between certain people.

Don’t forget about your family.

Don’t forget your Savior. Strive to think of Him every day. How are you going to represent Him if you don’t know Him?

Let’s talk about Satan for a sec. He wants you to feel inferior. He wants you to feel like you’re not good enough. Guess what? He’s already lost! Satan only has power over you if you give it to him. So it’s up to you to say no to him when he is tempting you to feel out of control. It’s okay to feel a little sad and discouraged every once in a while, that’s what happens when you’re a human. Just don’t let it sink and distract you from being who Heavenly Father needs you to be!

Our generation has been put on the earth at an exciting time and the world needs us more than ever to share the gospel right now. Thousands of lives are depending on us to live righteously and build up the kingdom of God. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it. No matter what, don’t give up! Good luck to all those who are and will be preparing to serve missions, you’re about to join the most powerful army the earth will ever see. Don’t forget that you don’t have to wear a badge to do missionary work and anything is possible when you’re on the Lord’s side.

xoxoxo,

Ella (and Elder Budge)