Soooo it's been a while. a long while. I've been meaning to write for some time, but life has literally been crazy. Some people use that expression too much, things are "literally this" or "literally that", when they're really not. I try not to use it too often, but if this is one of those situations where it is the straight-up TRUTH.

I'm not gonna go in to detail because confidentiality is a real thing, but imma sum it up in one sentence: some people in this world have serious problems and there's only so much you can do to help them before they need to help themselves.

During one of my many breakdowns (total breakdowns in 1 week: 5.), I happened to be in one of my classes talking to a friend (god bless this friend. she is amazing) and another lady in the class, who I respect mucho, turned to me and gave me some seriously sage advice: "You can't fix other people's yards; you can only fix your own".

Analysis: our lives are like our own little front yards with grass, trees, flowers, weeds and gophers. Sometimes our yards are Better Homes and Gardens quality and sometimes, they look Death Valley. Thankfully, because of agency, we can choose how/if/when we want to fix up our yards and we can choose what we want to do in the future so that our yards don't suffer again.

Sometimes, though, we look in our neighbour's yard and realize that their yard is dire need of some love, care and help. The neighbourly thing to do is to go over and see what you can do.
HOWEVER, there comes a point when you are doing too much for your neighbour: you're pruning, weeding, planting new trees, calling the gopher guy to get rid of the gophers, and watering the yard every day so that it will grow and be healthy again. You've gone from helping the person (which is good) to fixing their yard/living their life for them--you're doing too much (which is bad). And you know that once you stop doing these things, the person will just let their yard die again because they aren't willing to make the changes or help themselves.
SO. in summation, we really can only fix our own yards: our families, our financial situations, our jobs, our relationships, our school efforts, our health, whatever. But we can't fix other people's yards. That's something they've got to do for themselves if it's going to be a permanent change.
the end.


alright. i'm done being preachy. just thought i'd share :)


other than all that crazy stuff, my life has been pretty amazing. school is great, it's finally winding down and then i'm freeeeeeeeeee! this will be grand and I will be celebrating accordingly by seeing "The Hobbit" tomorrow (I'M SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!)

I also just realized that I never wrote about the Mika concert, partly because I've been busy, but also because I still can't believe it happened and I actually went. I started a post about it so hopefully, I'll finish that some time soon and y'all can read about my surreal experience. Until then, you should prepare for the magic by listening to Mika's new cd, The Origin of Love. I've had it on repeat since the concert and as cheesy as this sounds, it's really helped me through these past few weeks. like i've had select songs on repeat and blasting them in my car. it's been real. you should listen :)

and now imma study. I wrote an 8-page paper last night in 3 hours (almost a personal best). today is my last final. and imma celebrate :)