A Very Important Date...

I've had many opportunities in my life, and I've made the best of many of them but four or so years ago I was not at my best, to put it lightly. I can never say that I hit rock bottom, because the truth of it is that I was never a crack addict living on the street. I did not lose my family, nor did I ever do anything so bad as to merit going to jail. Strike that. I suppose that in order to avoid lying I should say that I never got caught doing anything so bad as to merit going to jail.

What I did do was lose myself. Insecure and lonely, I repeatedly compromised my values in order to gain the acceptance that I desperately craved. There was a big part of me that didn't want to be seen as the do-gooder over-achiever that the other part of me needed to be. But every concession I made moved me further away from who I really was. Putting on the façade was exhausting- mentally and emotionally- but I don't think I ever really fooled anybody. Sure I partied with them... but there's hardly anybody from high school that I keep in touch with. All I succeeded in doing was becoming a wake and bake, college dropout by the age of 18, losing my passion and vigor for life in the process. Ambition is one of the very defining characteristics I possess, but I completely lost it, along with my integrity.

Harrison Ford once said "We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance."

Three years ago today I was baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Things have not always been easy, and they have not always been fun, but it was the most important decision that I made in my life, and it has helped me to leave behind momentary happiness for genuine joy. My goals and priorities have changed... but it's funny how they're pretty much right in line with what I wanted all along. I found my "home" in the gospel and I am so grateful that the missionaries found me, and that my parents prepared me so that my heart could recognize the truth when it came knocking.

I truly have come to know that this is the only true church, that it was established by Jesus Christ himself and that it was restored by Joseph Smith. I cannot describe how much peace I get from the knowledge that Christ's atonement was for me and everyone I love (actually, everyone in general). Not only did he remove the burden of my sins, but he suffered every pain, loneliness, etc. and I know that I can turn to him to remove the weight of every weakness, infliction, sadness that I ever have.

In the immortal words of Robert Frost, I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.