Winston Churchill status.

It's official: The semester from hell is finally over.

I know I've said it before, but honestly this semester has been one of, if not the absolute hardest four months of my life. Looking back, it really shouldn't have been that bad. French poetry was rough, communication research was rough, writing for the newspaper was occasionally rough, being relief society secretary was a little bit rough, being a PA was sometimes rough. It's really the peer pressure that was the roughest, though. It's amazing the kind of peer pressure you get as a girl entering your 20s in Utah. Relationship pressure, marriage pressure, career pressure, pressure from girls waiting for missionaries and now pressure about going on a mission yourself, not to mention the many other aspects of religious pressure. Now the word pressure is starting to sound weird so I'm going to stop there. I think you get it.

Anyway, with all this madness going on, it's hard to step back and figure out what's best for me. None of these are necessarily bad types of peer pressure, but they're not necessarily good either. I think it's ridiculous that girls feel the need to get in serious relationships and get married at age 19 or 20, because it's what the Utah culture and return missionaries want. But that's beside the point.

I don't really want to focus on how hard this semester has been for me, mostly because I've told this sob story a million times and the semester is over now, anyway. I do want to focus on how thankful I am that I've actually been through it and for the opportunity I have to make these decisions that I'm still trying to figure out. I've learned a lot this semester.

Top Ten Life Lessons

Semester from Hell Edition

1. Do your best. You might have taken French for eight years and still have no idea what's going on in your French poetry class. It's okay. Keep trying, you'll make it out alive.
2. Don't feel like you have to impress anyone but yourself. This is a motto I've had since the ninth grade, but I always have to keep reminding myself.
3. These things take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say. You have your whole life ahead of you and you really don't need to rush into anything without looking both ways first.
4. What's right for someone else may not be what's right for you. So what if everyone and their dog is leaving Cedar for so-called bigger and better things? Maybe this is your bigger and better.
5. First impressions are not always right. Give things a chance. Then you can decide not to.
6. Sometimes there are two right answers. This is the worst thing ever, but at least you can't really lose.
7. Life is fragile. Appreciate what you have and show the people you care about that you love them. Life is too short to waste it by playing games or holding grudges.
8. Sometimes you will have bad days, and it's okay. Just eat some Oreos and milk and watch Modern Family and remember that tomorrow will be better. 
9. There is nothing better than running or riding a bike to de-stress. Do this as much as possible.
10. No matter how bad things get, how difficult life seems, how stressed out and confused you become, or how hard the night is to get through, there's always a beautiful sunrise and a new start in the morning.

I'm so thankful for all of you and everything you have done for me, not just this semester but my whole life. I don't know where I would be without the amazing people in my life.

It's time for me to leave this semester behind. I'll see you in three weeks Cedar City, and this time I'll be the one giving you hell.