a look into my scatterbrained head

I've wanted so badly to make time to sit down this week and just write. Y'all, my heart aches for it in ways and in places I didn't know it could. 

If you are at all familiar with Samford University, you are at least somewhat aware of the annual tradition that overtakes its campus each February: Step Sing.

An entire campus--comprised with its love for student participation, involvement, and enthusiasm--encourages each member of the student body to take part in this annual tradition.

We basically get into these large groups of 50-75 people and sing and dance in this huge competition just for the heck of it. There's no greater purpose other than to simply ​have a good time. 

I wish I could say I've gotten a solid 8 hours in every night for the past 3 weeks (8 hours of sleep is a foreign concept to me anyway). I wish I could say I haven't cast aside the ever-lingering threat of homework the past few days. I wish I could say that I've kept up with my quiet time schedule and with keeping my room tidy, my dishes clean, my bed made, my laundry done... all the things. I wish I could say I've managed it all these past few weeks.

But I am not one for dishonesty, so I'm gonna be super frank with y'all. Step Sing is all-consuming and I'm honestly surprised I'm awake right now. However, in the grand scheme of things, 3 weeks of rehearsal 'til almost midnight is okay because the community is great. These people are people who I am truly honored to know. People who, last semester, if you had asked me, "Do you know this person?" I would've said, "Yeah, I know them!" But in all seriousness the knowing aspect of these relationships did not come into play until the late-night rehearsals, 12am Sonic runs became a thing.

I promise I'm getting to a point. I'm gonna keep this short & sweet because I actually have to start getting my hair and makeup ready for my rehearsal later (hahah, Step Sing).

Occasionally, it will happen that one has to break out of their comfort zone to find great things. Finding strong and lasting relationships in your everyday, "Hi, how are you?" is no longer sufficient. It never was. How will you truly know someone if all you ever know of them is how they tell you they're doing when you ask in passing? You'll never actually know because no one's going to say, "Yeah, I'm actually really stressed about this test I have tomorrow, and also my dog's sick, and I feel kind of alone sometimes to be honest" in passing. Unless you truly know them. And that can't happen until you stop what you're doing and ask questions. Seek to know how they really, truly are--- and not just how they appear to be on the surface.

Can I tell you something else? People want to be known. I've never met someone who doesn't want friends, who doesn't want someone that truly understands them.

I get so intimidated to seek out the friendship of people in college because their Instagram gives a false perception of who they are as a person, or I just get this feeling that I'm not cool enough to be worth their time. How silly and childish is that assumption? That I, a human being, as human as you are, cannot achieve a certain level of human-perfectness that would deem me worthy of hanging out with another human who is just as human as I am?

Y'all, my best friend in the whole world is a girl who told me point-blank she didn't want to be my friend in preschool. Given, it was preschool, and she feels really bad about this now, but two years later we were inseparable. The impossible can happen because Jesus makes impossible things real!

Take me up on this challenge: make a new friend today. Seek out the company of someone who scares you because, in all honesty, they probably seem scary because they're aching to be known too.
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Make it your mission to seek out the ones who bring a smile to your face. And if you don't have those people yet-- go find them. I promise they exist. All it takes is doing something out of your comfort zone.