Forced Optimism

I used to feel like luck determined your life, essentially. Recently, optimism and the trust that God IS actually looking out for me seemed kind of far away. I felt like something big would have to go my way for me to see that, and that's a problem. When you get to a mindset where "things happen to other people," you get stuck there. When you start to believe that boyfriends or scholarships or jobs or whatever don't happen to you...they don't. In the same way that life is what you make of it, success is what you make of it, luck is what you make of it. I need to get back to a place where I can honestly trust and believe that God does have my back. I know He's there in the hard times, but I sometimes have trouble grasping that He's even there during the just frustrating times.

Unplanned, but Wonderful

Last night, a friend had a campfire in her backyard. By the time everyone came, there were four girls and one guy (my friend's...unofficial boyfriend?!?). We spent most of the night listening to music and just talking about random things, like how drunk certain people (not me) were the night before. After one girl left, we somehow got onto the topic of the elections. We talked a bit about parties, about specific candidates, that kind of thing. Eventually we started talking about issues. We discussed immigration, gun control, the environment, the economy, education, nearly everything. It was completely random, but really refreshing. I'd forgotten how good it is to have a nice, intellectual discussion. Some politicians discount us as a demographic, because, historically, we don't vote. This election is changing that, though. Our generation is becoming informed and politically conscientious. It's a wonderful thing to see, because, in all honesty, we're going to be running this country in 20 or 30 years, not our parents. Why shouldn't we care about shaping it up before we get there?