Stephany Writes

Categories: About Me

Confessions, Part 3

1. My mom and I recycle all of our bottles, cans, and paper. Unfortunately, we also gather them up by putting them into plastic bags, which kind of defeats the purpose of recycling. Every little bit helps, right?

2. My dog’s stinky breath is one of the most comforting smell in the world to me.
3. My favorite dish when I was a young kid (talking ages 4-6) was black beans and rice. My best friend’s mom used to make it for me whenever I came over.
4. When I was in 8th grade, I walked by two siblings having a fight before school on campus. The girl saw me watching her and yelled, “Are you enjoying the show?” to me. I still don’t have a good comeback for this.
5. When I was in kindergarten, we had circle time and on Mondays, we would go around and talk about our weekend. One of my classmates told a story about going camping with her family and her sister getting a bug stuck in her eye that her dad was able to get out. If not, the bug would have sucked all the blood from her body and she would die. IS THIS EVEN TRUE?! Every time I get anything stuck in my eye, I worry about dying suddenly.
6. I really, really, really want a Snuggie. And I want to buy my dog one. You can unfollow me now.
7. One of my favorite movies of all time is Shawshank Redemption. I’m not sure why because it’s sort of gloomy and I’m not a gloomy movies type of person. But I love it.

8. There is no sport that fills me with such excitement and intense fear as football. Sometimes, I hate watching my own team (Miami Dolphins) because of how upset I get when they lose.

9. I love my short hair. But I want my long hair back.

10. The amount of cookies I have consumed in the past three months is sickening. As is the amount of cookie dough.

11. My favorite time of year is October – December. I hope I never lose my childish awe and excitement for the holiday season.

12. Being in journalism school has assured me that I want nothing to do with newspaper journalism.

13. I don’t like Chipotle. I went once and wasn’t impressed.

14. I wear my hair up in some sort of ponytail 95% of the time. I really can’t stand to have my hair in my face. or bothering my neck.

15. I am pretty much an expert at NFL football picks. I’ve beaten my brother (and my dad, when the three of us were playing together) 4 years in a row. (And I’m up 3 games this season.)

Categories: About Me

On Being an Introvert

When I was a senior in high school, my best friend called me boring. Boring. Essentially, it was a huge criticism and caused me to spend the next few years hating everything about the word. And hating even more that she was right.

I began to equate my quietness and introvertedness (that’s a word!) as being boring. I hated it. I hated that she was right and I was boring. No wonder I have a hard time making friends, haven’t been on a date in eleventy billion months, and hate everything about the social scene. It’s because I’m boring.

A few weeks ago, Emily Jane wrote an amazing post about introverts and why we struggle with being social. It was a real eye-opener for me to find out there isn’t anything wrong with me. I’m not weird, nor do I need to seek out a more boisterous personality. There were so many interesting tidbits in the post that I won’t begin to talk about them here. The main lesson I took away from it was that I become overstimulated by too much social time and I draw my energy from being quiet. It makes complete sense to me. I cherish my alone times more than my people times. If I don’t get at least a few hours of alone time a day, I get stressed and jittery. (This is why it’s probably a good reason I changed my major from education to journalism. And why I hated my teaching experiences so much.)

My mom and I are both huge introverts. We spend many, many car rides in complete silence. To some people, we may look like we’re mad at each other or barely know one another. But the truth is, this is just the way we were made. If you were to tape a sensor to my brain to spew out everything I was thinking during these “silent” car rides, I don’t even know how many pages you would fill up! When I’m quiet and seem withdrawn into myself, it doesn’t mean I’m not engaged. The opposite is actually true. My mind never seems to shut off and there is so much happening in my brain that it would probably exhaust an extrovert.

I’m beginning to embrace being an introvert. I love the fact that being shy and quiet is such a huge part of me because there’s nothing to be ashamed of! While I would love to have more of my dad’s extroverted personality where he could get anyone and everyone to open up to him and become his best friend justlikethat, I realize it’s OK if I don’t. There are downsides to being so quiet and shy, mainly that it takes me forever to open up to people and let myself enjoy where I’m at. I worry too much about what people think of me. I can’t do small talk for anything. And I cringe at the thought of a car ride with someone I barely know.

But I need to stop worrying about that because it hasn’t gotten me anywhere in the past few years. I’m shy. Incredibly so. I’m quiet, to the point you may think I’m snobbish. (I promise I’m not.) Some may call me boring. So what? It’s who I am. I need to embrace it.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? 

Categories: About Me

On Blogging

I had an extremely long blog post written that I really hope you didn’t read. It detailed my history of blogging and where I saw my blog going in the future. It was long. It was kind of melancholy. And I didn’t like how I wrote it.

Instead, I wanted to write more about my views on blogging and the type of blogger I want to be.
You see, I’m fairly new to this blogging thing. I began this blog in August 2009 and it’s been my most successful blog by far. According to Google Reader, I have 132 followers (91 on Friend Connect). I receive double-digit comments on most of my posts. And I have met some of my closest friends through blogging. I have received so much advice from readers, so much inspiration from other blogs, and so much goodness from this entire community. Starting this blog was, by far, the best thing I have ever done.
Maybe my name isn’t out there as much as some other bloggers. I don’t have any book deals pending, there are no mean websites started because of my blog, and my following is quite small in comparison to others. But I can’t compare my blogs to others. I can only do as best as I can for myself. I’m not sure I want to deal with the backlash bloggers such as Caitlin and MckMama have had to deal with because I am the epitome of a sensitive person. I’m happy with the following I’ve developed, although I think there’s nothing wrong with saying I would love more followers.
I’ve begun to realize that I need to get back to blogging for me, which is probably the worst thing you can do if you want to grow your blog. I want to stop needing to stick to a rigid five-day-a-week blogging schedule and spend hours a day commenting on other blogs. I want to write when I feel the need and have the time to do so. I want to be just fine with going days without checking my Reader.
My three-week break was good for this. It made me realize that there is more to life than my blog. After all, if I don’t experience life, what will I have to blog about? It also made me realize that I love and need blogging. I love my blog friends. I love reading about their lives and gaining insight. I love writing blog posts and receiving feedback. I want to grow my blog and eventually move it to its own domain name.
So where is this blog going? Good question. I don’t have a firm answer. I want it to grow as I grow. I’m entering a very uncertain time of my life as I graduate college in May and have no idea what I want to do. My postings may be erratic, or they may be structured. I may post one day a week or go an entire month of blogging every single day. I keep telling myself I need to figure out what I want to do with my blog because my readers are getting confused. But, honestly, are you all that concerned about how much I’m posting? I don’t think so. (Unless, of course, I go three weeks without blogging!) You all have your own lives and blogs to be concerned about.
So there you have it. Not a very clear answer. I want this blog to grow, for sure. But I also want to grow myself. And I’m beginning to see that I just need to blog for me and worry less about what everyone is thinking about me. Because frankly, you guys have stuck around for a lot of my whiny posts, non-posts, and blog hiatuses. I think you’re here to stay.
Photo credit: x, x
Categories: About Me

Identity Crisis

Lately, I haven’t been happy lately with my blog. I haven’t been happy with the posts I’ve been creating. Sometimes, I wish I was more comfortable with posting when I can, not having to stick to a specific schedule. Then I do that and wish I was on a schedule again. It’s a bit of the “grass is always greener” debate.

So which is better? Blogging five days a week, with the majority of these blogs being non-posts? Or blogging when I feel the need to write?

I’m just not sure. Even now, while writing this post, I’m being attacked by thoughts to not post this.

Maybe I take blogging too seriously. Maybe I’m overthinking this. I just don’t know.

So I’m giving myself a break from blogging. Most likely, you won’t hear anything from me for the next 2 weeks. I need time to reevaluate where I want this blog to go. I need time to focus on my family and school. I need time to breathe. (I will still bombard your Twitter feed – don’t worry about that.)

I do know that I love blogging. I have not lost my fire or passion for this blog. I’ll be back, hopefully with some better posts and a more sure idea of who I am as a blogger.

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Categories: About Me

You’re Not Enough For Me

The last time I posted about my faith was August 11. Almost two months ago. And since I’m not one to sugarcoat things, especially in regard to faith and spirituality, let’s just say I seem to have “broken up” with God these past few months. While I have prayed my heart out during my mom’s ER visit, my ER visit, and my grandma’s cancer results, I’m becoming That Girl. The Girl Who Prays When Things Are Bad, But Forget About God When Things Are Good. (And doesn’t that label just fall off your tongue?)

Things haven’t been great. I’ve been “too busy” for quiet time, “too busy” to pray, “too busy” to really spend time with my Heavenly Father. I’ve been to church once in two months. My Bible is collecting dust and I haven’t even opened my devotional book since late June.

I’ve been reading a book that has really opened my eyes to Jesus and what I mean to Him. In the story, the author personifies Jesus, making Him into a living, breathing human who is on a mission to show the heroine how much He cares for her. At first, I was turned off by the personification, but I’m growing to love it. I feel as if I’m learning so much about God through this story, much more than I ever have before. In one instance, He tells her to come to a church at a specific time. So she goes, but is so annoyed by the rain and being inconvenienced that she left after giving Jesus a piece of her mind. The next day, she confronts Him about it and he says, “Yes, that didn’t go according to My plan.” This line threw me for a loop. How many times do I let my own free will tear me away from Jesus’ plan for my life? How many times has God put me in the spot I need to be in at that very moment, but I let annoyances or circumstances lead me onto the wrong path?

I’m not following God right now. I’m buying into what the world is offering me. I’m letting it dictate my emotions and my worth. I’m finding solace and strength from social media and entertainment and not from the abiding grace of my Father. In a sense, I’m telling Jesus that He’s not enough for me right now. He’s not good enough for me. I need more than what He can offer. And how crazy does that sound? God can give me so much more than I need, so much more than I could ever hope for, so much more than I could ever expect. He can fulfill my every need. But I’m not letting Him. I’m hiding myself away, holding on tight to my heart so nobody can get near it to tarnish it. But my heart? It’s broken, it’s bruised, it’s beating to a slow beat. It needs the hands of the Greatest Artist to turn it over in His hands, wipe it off, and make it whole again.

Maybe I’m a slow learner. Maybe I need to make a few mistakes before I recognize the truth that is staring me in the face. God loves me. God cares about me. And God wants to be a part of my life. He wants to be a part of the joy and happiness, as well as the sadness and anger. He wants to clean up this mess I’m making of my life and turn it around. All I have to do is release this intense grip I have on my own life.