What teenagers need to know: from the mouth of babes.

Since I've been home, I've been thinking a lot about high school.
I've seen people from high school, and listened as my high school sister tells me about her life...
I guess being back in your home town can do that to you.

Anyways, high school is hard.
Heck, I had relatively small problems and was active in leadership and usually had friends
And even then, none of that seemed to make it any easier. It was hard.
There were things I should have done that I didn't have the confidence to do.
I look back and remember most days being so worried sitting in my desk
about whether or not anybody was looking at my thighs squishing over the sides.
So worried that I couldn't focus.
And flirt with boys? Dance by myself? Make new friends? Take risks?
My narrow focus on my insecurities and whether or not I had friends, or if people liked me...
well, took me so far away from myself that I couldn't even think of those things most times.

High school can tell you that you have to be skinny or have a car or a place on a team
or a great group of friends and a perfect home life and everything else to be happy.
That is a lie.
It's a bold lie that our adversary loves to use over and over and over,
and it's been working for years.

I taught high school seminary last year, and I learned a lot.
I thought a lot about what I wish I had known.
But I was surprised to find that they already know what they need!
Of course, it's easier to say than it is to do, but that's where our job comes in.
If our focus is in the right place, we can help them learn how to do this.
So let me share with you what they know they need to be happy.
I asked them myself, and these were their responses.

D&C 121:7-8 Trials don't last! Even when it seems like the world is ending or like nothing will ever be okay again- through Christ and the Gospel it WILL BE OKAY! God is with us! We can endure to the end.

Temptations can come when you are not ready for them so prepare early and never think "that will not happen to me"

What you do now will make your future. So be your best self.

Go and do what the Lord commands-Rapidly! (1 Nephi 3:7)

Without faith you can do nothing... (D&C 8:10)

Don't take off your spiritual armor

Be nice to one another. Love one another.

Keep the commandments (1 Nephi 3:7)

(We are free to choose) This is our life and we were sent here to be tested. We choose our own happiness. We choose to choose the gospel. [choose the right path]. (2 Nephi 2:27)

There are so many ways to mess up, and it takes great diligence in order to police yourself all the time (Mosiah 4:30). However, you will mess up, and when you do, you need to have the courage and humility to accept the Savior's atonement.

Repent, and come unto Christ.

I believe to be the most important thing I have learned for myself is to have faith. I think that having faith, you also need hope, as well as charity. I also believe that coming unto Christ is very important. It gives you power. You will be able to conquer any trial that you have. You will also be an example to others of how to do it and it will give them confidence and hope. You will bring happiness into other's lives. You will endure to the end! Satan will have no power over you. You will gain greater knowledge constantly. You will have a sense of clarity. In the bible it talks about Jesus healing a blind man. The blind man was looking for Jesus because he knew Jesus could heal him. People told him he wasn't worthy to see him, but he sought him out anyway. Jesus has him come unto Him and helped him see again. He was able to see everything clearly. As we come unto Jesus, He will help us to see.

Learn in thy youth to keep the commandments (Alma 37:35)

Remember all you need is to know & share the pure love of Christ in all you do and say. In all your thoughts and at all times.

Remember the choices you make today will affect your eternity (2 Nephi 2:28-29)

Pray always and not faint. Always have a prayer in your heart.

Just be happy. This is temporary. Make the best of life. (Rom 8:28)

3 Nephi 18:1-14 Ye must watch and pray always, lest ye be tempted by the devil and ye be led away captive by him.

Learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God (Alma 37:35)

Jesus loves you. And he wants to bless you and have you live with him again. All you have to do is live a life worthy enough to receive and recognize All that he blesses you with.

Build your life on Christ's foundation (Helaman 5:12)

Pray to God always (3 Nephi 18:15, 20-21)

Your kids are smarter than you give them credit for. They may have young minds and bodies,
but their souls I've found to always be wise beyond their years.
And they are right, you know.
If they have eternal perspective and a relationship with their Heavenly Father they will have all of those things they know they need.
The closer I felt to my Heavenly Father, the better I felt then (and feel now) about myself.
What it comes down to is that the youth of our nation need the gospel of Christ.
They need to know their Savior, because if they have that knowledge they never have to feel alone.
And what if no high schooler felt alone?

Just a thought.

[Also, here's a link to an article I read the other day that I thought was both relevant and true.]

And for your viewing pleasure- high school taylor & friends.

how to be healthy and eat heavy whipping cream

No, you're not about to be introduced to some weird health fad.
I'm not going to tell you to eat only vegetables, or liquids, or anything of the sort.
I just want to talk about being healthy.
I want to talk about how to be healthy.

I'm not claiming to be the epitome of perfect health,
but I've figured out a few things through my rocky relationship with my body over the years.
I'm a happier, better person for it and I think it's time I share what I do know.
And I really started learning the things I know now when I met Jay.

Let's rewind for a second.
I hated my body for a lot of years.
Hate is a strong word, but in some ways it's accurate.
So anytime something went wrong in my life,
anytime a boy didn't like me,
anytime I didn't have the confidence to go after something,
I blamed my body.
Maybe not always intentionally, but still pretty much always.

"If I was skinny, it would be different... it would be easier... I would be happier"
And that continued to magnify the problem. 
And somewhere in between there I tried crazy diets,
and ate too much, [because who cared anyways]
and I exercised to punish myself for eating,
and I never could reach that skinny point that I wanted so badly.
Then I fell in love with a boy,
and he loved me for exactly how I was,
and I still weighed the same I always had.

And very slowly, I began to love my body.

Now, I'm not saying all it takes is a boy to love your body.
Apparently I was just so blinded by hate that God had to send Jay to intervene.
I think the word I'm looking for is..... stubborn.

But I think more than love my body,
I began to care about my body.
And I cared for a variety of reasons.
I wanted to be healthy and feel good and be happier and better and have healthy babies someday.
And I wanted to stop abusing my body.
And consequently I began to treat my body better.

I didn't do any crazy diets,
I didn't starve myself,
I just listened.
And when I was hungry, I ate.
And I ate what I felt like eating. 
Sometimes I craved a little sugar,
sometimes not.
And I followed my body's orders.

I wasn't trying to lose weight anymore,
I was simply focusing on treating my body well.  
And it came off slowly, imperceptibly, but hasn't come back.
And now I'm married to that boy,
and on occasion I cook with heavy whipping cream.
And I don't even punish myself.
And sometimes I eat fries for lunch,
and I don't even feel guilty.
And sometimes I feel like I've eaten too much heavy food,
and I eat an apple because that's what sounds good.

And that sweet husband of mine liked me how I was twenty five pounds ago,
and likes me how I am now.
Because he loved me.
He didn't care about that number on the scale I'd been obsessing over.

Being healthy is an adventure, not a destination.
And shockingly, healthy looks different on each of us.
We just have to figure out what makes us feel good,
and what our individual healthy looks like.

Now I'm re-figuring out my relationship with exercise.
Because it was my punishment for eating for so long,
I've got to reach a healthy medium there too.
But that's a story for another time. 

I searched up some pictures that are painful to post,
but I think they help tell the story a little.
Maybe you don't really see the difference, and maybe that's the point!
I see it, but mostly I see the way I felt then, and the way I feel now.
Not all of you will understand, and you may have never been at war with your body before.
But some of you have, and maybe some of you will have daughters that will.
Some of you have best friends who battle themselves, and some of you have wives.
And I hope somewhere in there this gives you understanding, or hope,
or just a quick read about what it felt like to be me for a long time.
And where I'm at now.

I hope you're happy today,
I sure am.