Center for Change

The past two days the Center for Change (an eating disorder clinic in Orem, Utah) and the BYU-I counseling center, put on eating disorder seminars. There were 7 in total, I could only go to 4 of them though. I was able to go to one yesterday, it was called "Preventing Eating Disorders: What You Can Know Now That I Didn't Know Then" It was my Becky Mann who currently works as a nurse for the Center of Change. She struggled with an eating disorder starting at the age of 12, but through therapy was able to overcome it. She talked about ways to "eating disorder proof" your home. It was really good.

My favorite one was the one this morning. It was by Lynette Taylor and was called, "The Healing Power of Music in Making Changes from Addictive Behaviors with Food, Diets and Eating Disorders." Lynette is the music therapist at a Center for Change, which is exactly what I want to do! She went here (well Ricks College), and then transferred to Utah State which is exactly what I am planning on doing! She talked about different types of things she does during a therapy session, and it all seems so exciting to me! She did a demonstration with a crystal bowl. When you run a mallet type thing along the outside of the bowl it makes a noise (like running your finger around the edge of a crystal glass), only this was a low noise. You can feel the sound reverberate all up and down your body. When a part of your body is out of alignment the sound will migrate to that place and stay there. For instance if you are having anxiety problems the sound will settle in your stomach, emotional problems you heart, mental problems (like studying too much!) your head. It was so weird to feel it! I felt it in my legs and arms....not to sure what that means yet! But I plan on finding out!

The next when was by Becky Mann again, it was called, "A Personal Journey of Faith, Hope and Recovery From the Ravages of an Eating Disorder." She talked about her personal struggle with an eating disorder, where it came from, how it affected her life, and how she got help. The last one was by Michael Berrett, Gwena Couliard, and Randy Hardman, and they talked about positive self-esteem and stuff like that.

There was about a 30-minute break between two of the seminars so I went and talked to Lynette, the music-therapist. And we were talking and she was telling me how the music-therapy program at Utah State (one of 4 on the West coast) is kind of hard to get into, but if it's something you're really passionate about and really dedicated to, they won't deny you. She was really excited for me! She had gotten e-mail addresses of people who wanted to know more about music therapy and she had me star my name and she was like "Keep in touch! When you get into the program and you need help just email me!" And then she told me that when I was ready I could go down and intern for her!! Ahh! I'm so excited! It was a really good day! And I learned a lot! Now I can't wait to transfer and get to learn more about it! :)

What do I do with my life??

Ah! What do I want to do with my life?

Part of me wants to go into music therapy so I can work in an eating disorder clinic because that is something I am really passionate about. But another part of me wants to major in international studies, I love learning about countries in the middle east. When I applied to college I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do (I still don't!) so I didn't bother looking into specific programs. But now that I'm starting to all I can say is.....CRAP!

Haha! So BYU-I only has a 2-year music therapy program and then you have to transfer somewhere else. And they only have an international studies minor - no major. And nothing else sounds interesting. So pretty much I have to transfer! But I don't know where to!

BYU-I re-did their general classes and made a set of classes called foundations. Well I just found out that those credits don't transfer to most colleges unless you have your associates degree. I don't want to just take the boring classes to get my associates degree though! I want to take the boring classes that I have to take mixed with the fun classes that I have to take! But I need to get somewhere that I can do the major I want to do. Ah!! I don't know what to do with my life!! Someone plan it all out for me please! :)

The Hair!

So when we were in Provo dropping Kristi off at school I had my cousin cut my hair, I was bored with it so...I cut it all off! Then the other day me and my neighbors were bored so we decided to dye it! We added some black! And I love it! :) Ha ha so here are some pics!



This is my lovely roommate Kristen. I love her! And can't wait to room together next semester too!

College is fun!

College is definitely way better than high school! Everyone always says that high school is the best part of your life, but no way! It doesn't even come close to college!

Last night I was having issues with my roommates, and ran next door. I didn't really know the girls, but now we're really close! We are going to room together next semester, and I think I might go on a Meso America study abroad trip with them during the summer.

Right now I'm letting them dye my hair!! We'll see how it turns out! I'll have to post pictures...! One of the girls Kristy, lives in the same cul-de-sac as my Aunt Denise and Uncle Randy! Which is way exciting! I think Summer is up here with her husband, but I'm not sure. Grandpa thought they were, but Kristy didn't, so who knows!! Haha

Carol's surgery went well, they got the tumor out and it wasn't cancerous so that's really good! That takes a lot of stress out of life! I can't wait till next summer to go back and help with the parade! I get to announce in two years - I can't wait!! This summer, I'll be in the parade in a car, so I can't announce but that'll still be really fun!

Anyways, I'm kinda at a party right now. One of our friends is turning 19, but he's not here yet so we're just kinda sitting around!!

Anyways!

Pageant Platform Speech

This is my platform speech for the pageant I was in. My platform was Eating Disorder Awareness.


Eating Disorders: “I’m More Than Just a Number”

Numbers define nearly everything in our society. We use numbers to define our shoe size, our clothing size, our weight, and our age. We have even reached the point where we label ourselves with a number, and use that number to define our self-worth. We sometimes take drastic measures as we try to lower our number in an effort to raise our self-worth.

Every year 5 million Americans are diagnosed with a suppressive eating disorder. With such a high rate eating disorders have now become more common than Alzheimer’s disease and are the number one killer of all mental illnesses.

While eating disorders have many causes, our media plays a large role in nearly all cases. The majority of eating disorders begin between the ages of 15 and 19, the most influential years of a teenager’s life.

In 1995 the beautiful country of Fiji was introduced to western television. Before its arrival women believed that fat was beautiful. Thin women were seen as weak, and so women tried for robust, well-muscled bodies. But after 38 months of watching western television 74% of Fiji’s teenage girls believed that they were too big, and 15% had resorted to vomiting in an effort to look like the women on their new favorite shows.

At the Montevideo fashion week in June of 2006, Luisell Ramos, a Uruguayan model passed away at the age of 22. She died of heart failure as a result of her eating disorder – anorexia nervosa. Her death forced fashion officials around the world to take a look at their models and the influence they have on their audiences.

Officials of the Madrid fashion week decided to take a stand against eating disorders by banning models that were “too skinny” meaning models with a Body Mass Index rate under 18 (18 being the lowest in the healthy range on the BMI scale). They received criticism and support as they turned away nearly 30% of their models.

Our media has warped our perception to think that we need to be a certain number – a small number. But the models in our media are thinner than 98% of American women. The average American woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds, while the average American model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds.


I urge teenagers everywhere to be comfortable with your body, and not to look to the media for an example of who you should be. Be strong in being who you are and accept these words of Stephen Schwartz as your anthem when he wrote:

I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game

Play your own game, make your own rules, and most importantly; don’t let numbers define who you are, because you’re more than just a number.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIeDG2ienNs

First Day of Class!

Today was my first day of college classes! I loved every single one of them! I have to say that my music classes are my favorite! All of my professors are really cool, one of them is crazy! Seriously.

I'm taking 15 credits (6 classes). They are Music and Humanities 101. Vocal instruction 104. Mathematics for the Real World 108. American Foundations 101. Science Foundations 101. and Book of Mormon 121. I had all of them but the last two today. So that leaves me a lot of time to study tomorrow! :)

My roommates are super cool! And we all get along really well! I have four roommates, and we have a full kitchen - which is super exciting! Me and my actual roommate are a lot alike- in a good way!

So over all my college experience is going good. We'll see what I think in a few weeks though! :)

Moving

Ah!! I leave in less than 24 hours! I am so excited! I honestly can't wait! I've had most of my clothes packed for a week and have just been living out of my suitcase!

It feels nice to be all packed though. I only have a few things that I need to squeeze in somewhere I'm proud of myself though, I only have 3 boxes, 2 garbage bags, and 1 suitcase. I'm not a light packer so for me that's pretty good! :)

It's kind of a bitter sweet thing though. This has been a really fun summer. I've had a lot of fun with Kristi. We shared a room all summer, and went to the branch together. And it's been a lot of fun, especially the late night talks. Ha ha we only got yelled at for those a handful of times! - they had a tendency to get kind of loud!

My computer is having problems, so I think I'm just going to turn it off and go to bed, before I break it!