I received this beautiful email from my wonderful mother and felt impressed to share it on my blog. Perhaps her inspiring words will bring peace to your heart and mind as it did to mine.
Emily,
Here is a link from Elder Hollands response to someone's question from the face to face Tuesday night. One person wrote in about coming home early from his mission because of mental health issues.
I wanted to send this link privately to you. I thought it was great and could help you. I wanted you t o know that you are not alone in this. So many of our young adults are suffering with mental illness. I believe it is the plague of our time. You need not feel like a failure. It is the challenge that many of us have to overcome in our dispensation. I have felt that my brain is my earthly challenge. I have often thought of all the amazing things I could have accomplished as a mother and person if I had a fully functioning brain! I would have been AWESOME! But we all have earthly limits.
I have been thinking of you and discouragement. Life is hard. Sometimes we dwell on the things we failed to do. That would discourage anybody. It seems like it is easier to see our shortcomings rather than our accomplishments. That would make anyone feel like a failure. But, if we think about all the good we did, then we could see the success in our lives. You have accomplished so much good. You have had a lot of success in your life. Serving in Alabama was one of them. You touched and changed many lives there. Some you see and some you don't even know about.
You are being successful now. You have a job and are supporting yourself away from home. Something I never really did. My dad paid my way through the first few years of school and my housing. You are doing this on your own! You are amazingly strong and independent! That is huge success!
You are caring, kind, and thoughtful. You are sharing the spirit of Christ where ever you go. That is huge.
It is hard to see the good we do because it is easier to focus on what we failed to do. We focus on what we lack. It is this focus that makes us feel like failures. Like we didn't do anything good because we ran short. What if we focused on our successes? If we focus on all the good we have done and see how far we have come in our lives then we will feel successful.
I was thinking what if you wrote down all your accomplishments? Get a pretty piece of paper, or design one on your computer with colored clip art. Put on pictures of you or stuff from online. Then type or write down all the good you did, starting in high school. Write down all the shows you did. You got to choreograph your school's musical your senior year. Not many high schoolers can say that. You had your own dance company as a teenager. Not many teenagers can say that. You received your young womanhood medallion. That took work and courage. You desired to serve our Heavenly Father by going on a mission. You had a willing heart and you went. You touched many lives while you were there. What is that saying, "The mind is willing but the flesh is weak." ? I think it would help you on those days you were filling discouraged and felt like a failure if you had something that you could look at, read and remind you of all your successes. We all need reminders of how wonderful we are. And you are AMAZINGLY FABULOUS! I am very proud of you and how hard you work. You are living the dream!
Stay close to your Heavenly Father. Pray, Read your scriptures, and Listen. He will guide your life in the direction that you need to go. You are doing great things, and many more great things await you!
Love,
Mom
