Are You Better Off?

Inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes.

Earlier this week I received quite the Facebook notification. I was prompted to change my profile picture by a message explaining that I should show my friends and family "who I am now." I know, pretty deep, right? I examined my current profile picture, which was taken about a year ago, and since have reflected on just that. Having experienced pain and heartache as well as the joy and the adventures that I have this past year, am I better off than I was a year ago? 

So much has happened in the past twelve months of my life and though I am not always the most positive kitten on the roller coaster, I can honestly say that I believe I am. I look at the picture of the scowling eighteen year old girl, and she doesn't know what it is like to open the mission call of her dreams.

She's never lived on her own. She doesn't know what it's like to bunk with the greatest missionary Washington D.C. has ever seen.

She had never heard Sister Tsang's gorgeous accent.

She didn't know what it felt like to fly to Florida with her best friend, she had never been knocked down by the waves of the ocean.

 What about you? 

Where were you a year ago? Maybe at a different job? In a different relationship? Is your major still the same? Is you family still the same? Met anyone that changed you? Are you better off than you were a year ago? 

So my answer to Facebook will probably be no, for now. I love showing my friends and family "who I am now" through other mediums (this blog included.) Also I think that picture is kinda adorable so......

I hope you know that you are better off. I hope you strive to be better off than you were yesterday. I will be the first to tell you that there are days when you will doubt that you are but I believe that the frustration, the pain, increases our capacity to love, and to feel joy. It all comes to pass, right? :)