A Continuing Education

I am currently a teacher to all of the women in our church congregation – also known as a Relief Society teacher. And to be honest, I really love it! It’s amazing how all of a sudden in my life Relief Society is a like a lifeline, and being out of town and missing church is so hard for me. I love the connection and the sisterhood and the sharing and the vulnerability, and I sincerely believe Relief Society is a beautiful place of growth and service and building friendships to last a lifetime.

Last year I taught about a subject that I truly am passionate about – the importance of education. This is something that is very important in the church and just for the future of our lives in general. I was always that girl who loved school. I got giddy walking into Staples to buy fresh notebooks and beautiful pens. Inloved learning like the little nerd that I am. I honestly am still like this, and when September rolls around I dream of bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils and the first day of school.

Now I’m not saying you necessarily need to graduate from college to get an education (although I’m definitely a believer in it and it can be so good, if it’s the right fit), but it is so important to gain a skill and develop it and participate in society!

I shared in my lesson how important this is – for our own self development, spirituality, independence, and happiness. To find a passion, to be a part of something – whether that be an amazing company or working for yourself or raising a family. But I am such a believer in being educated and having something to always fall back on.

I never thought that I would work. (And when I say work, I just mean dress up in business professional clothes and go to work from 9-5.) In my mind I would be just like my mom. I would get married while I was in college and have a baby by the time I graduated. But life never works out the way we plan! How grateful I am that no matter what happened when we moved and when none of my credits were going to transfer to ASU that I said, you know what, my education is my priority. I am going to graduate with a degree no matter what it takes! (Or no matter the degree, haha.) I worked full time and I went to school full time. Honestly, I had a great job and I could have stopped going to school. But I loved school, and this was a goal that I always had and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me, it wasn’t even really a question in my mind. Because honestly, at this point, we were going to get pregnant any month now, and everything was going to work out exactly how I had planned. Dallin would keep working and I would slowly stop working my job from home and transition to being a full stay at home mom. This was my purpose, and I prayed about it, I had had multiple dreams about it, every thing I knew meant this was going to be my path.

And honestly, this has been the hardest part of not having children yet. It’s dealing with this inconsistency in my mind – that I’m not fulfilling my life’s purpose – to be a mother. And this is a major lesson that I have needed to learn. That I have worth as me, not just as a wife or a potential mother. I am not worthy of love with regards to relationships I have with others. Being a wife is a very sacred thing to me, just as Dallin being my husband is also sacred. And motherhood is such a beautiful rewarding thing – mothers pretty much have every job even out there! But I am also grateful for my education, a job I love, and finding purpose in those things. It is so important to find purpose and make progress as individuals outside of women’s relationships to others.

You can never plan what will happen in your life. But I do know that you will never regret prioritizing your education and developing new skills to contribute to society, it whatever way you choose. You will never regret finding purpose as an individual and doing what you love.

Let me know what you think or if you have any insights on the topic 🙂

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