Be STILL

 For those of you who have known me for more than five minutes, you know that I am a busybody. I grew up showing animals through the 4-H Program, attended conferences and summer camps,  completed over 30 record books, participated in clubs in high school, maintained a 3.5 GPA, held several church callings, had seasonal summer jobs, participated in Girls State, the Senate Page program, and have been on the Junior Staff.( with so much more.) Coincidentally, we just had a lesson on the subject of preparing for our temporal needs in Relief Society yesterday.

The title of this post is super near and dear to my heart. In fact this whole post is near and dear to my heart. I have always loved being busy and college life has treated me no different. From club activities and events, to studying hard, going to classes, church callings, and everything that you could imagine in between, add a job to that, and there's almost no time for  anything else. Hence why I am still single and have no boyfriend.

About a month ago, I injured one of my ribs while playing volleyball. It not only gave me breathing problems with my sternum, but I also had back issues as well. I was having a hard time sleeping at night, I had a hard time sitting still during classes/ during church, and could barely climb the stairs to all my classes. After two weeks, I knew something had to be done about it. Being someone who doesn't particularly enjoy hospitals, I really didn't want to follow my dad's advice, which was either go to the emergency room or "just wait it out." I discovered pretty early on in my injury phase that being sick or getting injured in college doesn't really work for anyone. There is always more that needs to be done, that one can't exactly take a break and wait to get better before continuing on with life. Life stops for no man. Or better yet, college stops for no man.

Eventually after two weeks of fighting the pain with nothing getting better, I resorted to modern medicine and took my roommates' advice to go see a chiropractor. The hardest part of living away from home is not having the opportunity to have your mom with you for everything. I had to somehow find a chiropractor in Logan all on my own, make the appointment, find the office, and probably the hardest part of all, be brave enough to actually GO. That took some time, believe it or not. Luckily my wonderful friend Lizzy loves me enough to suffer through the torture and go with me.

 I'll spare you most of the details of what happens at the chiropractor, just because it's painful and I don't really want to recount all the details.(I had never gone to the chiropractor before, just heard stories from my parents who love the chiropractor.)  When I recounted my sad story to my chiropractor, he ended up doing an x-ray on my back just to be sure the slight curvature wasn't scoliosis, or something worse. It was the first x-ray I have ever had that I am aware of , besides my teeth, so that was actually kind of cool. One of the only things I took away from the x-ray was that my right leg is longer than my left, and that it wasn't really anything too serious. (phew!) I also learned that I laugh at my own pain, weird how that works, right?

In this journey I have learned quite a bit from the world of chiropractics, but more importantly how fragile this mortal body of mine really is, regardless of how angelic and superhumanly powerful I think it is. My body really is fragile, and deserves to be protected. If I try to run harder than I have strength, I will cause the bones that are healing to be brittle and break.I will cause more pain than good which is also not smart. My body is a temple, and it needs nourishment, strength, sleep, relaxation, and sometimes pressure applied to it, so that it can come out stronger and complete the tasks that it needs to in its time on this earth.

I remember sitting in church a couple weeks ago, or it could have been institute, and I must have been thinking about my situation, and how weak and hopeless I felt. It kind of got to me a little bit, and the words to one of the hymns we sang that day really hit home. But then I also felt a calm and peaceful feeling that seemed to say, "Be Still." These simple words spoke to me in a powerful way, and I have ceased to forget them since. It has been really easy to get down on myself and be upset with the situation at hand, but I know in the long run I will be blessed. I personally believe it was Heavenly Father trying to teach me to slow down, and to really become more in tune with myself and my spirit. Even though it has been really hard for me to slow down while being forced to relax, I know that is the only way this poor body of mine will heal. I know that if I take the time to heal, I will be able to return to the normal activities I love. I also know that it is okay to slow down every once in a while, and to relax. It will only make me stronger.

Today, I was told by my chiropractor that I should not play volleyball for a while until I am doing a lot better. It was really hard to be told you can't participate in your favorite sport because you need to heal. Before now, I have never let an injury get me down. This time, it kind of has. But I trust in his judgement, and I know that I will be blessed for listening, while also taking the time to heal. It will definitely not be easy, but in the long run, it will be worth it. The same words have again been echoing in my head, "BE STILL."

I'm grateful for this challenge and trial in my life, and for the things that I have learned. I know that it will be a rocky road to recovery, but that I will be stronger and healthier in the time to come. I just need to take time to heal, and to know that Heavenly Father knows what he's doing.