"Be you..."

I found this quote today and I LOVED it. Thought it was a good blog post topic.

When I was younger I wanted people to like me.

I wanted the "popular" people to like me.

I wanted to feel part of a crowd.

I looked to people in Jr. High and High School who I thought were SO COOL. They always had boys hanging around them, they had boyfriends. They seemed to have the best in life. And I desperately wanted that.

After trying, and hoping to have them notice me and want to really be my friend, and even hanging out with them a time or two, trying to put on a show as someone I wasn't, and then after becoming bummed out that we didn't really "click"...I'm glad I chose a different crowd.

Today I am so grateful that didn't become friends with those people. I see where their life has taken them, and it's in a place where I don't want to be.

I am thankful I had good friends during those Jr. High and High School, even after High School days, who chose good things. Who were good examples for me. Friends who were and still are strong in the gospel. Friends who helped me be a better version of me. Friends who helped me through my personal trials, prayed for me, and stuck it out with me. Wrote me letters while I was in China, and on my Mission. And friends who still to this day love me for me, and who are still very close to me and a big part of my life.

I am thankful I chose to be me, and not someone I wasn't.

Thanks friends!!

(...and I'm missing a few other dear friends...they know who they are)