One of my biggest regrets in life is that I've never kept a journal longer than 2 months. One reason why I haven't is because I felt that I couldn't possibly express on paper what I was really feeling inside. I was too afraid that my journal would be read by someone else and then my darkest secrets would be made known. I am so grateful today for blogs! It's something so new to me since I've been home from my mission. I have several friends that have blogs and I've finally decided to start my own! Now I can write my thoughts and feelings completely unrestrained!

I think one of the benefits of keeping a faithful journal is that you are able to see your progression (or regression) over a long period of time. I wish I could look back at my life and see how I've progressed. In my mind, I feel like I haven't progressed at all, but deep down I know that I have. My goal is to faithfully post here so I am more able to track my progression and remember special experiences that occur day to day.

President Kimball spoke about the importance of journals. He said:

"Your private journal should record the way you face up to challenges that beset you...Experiences of work, relations with people, and an awareness of the rightness and wrongness of actions will always be relevant. Your journal, like most others, will tell of problems as old as the world and how you dealt with them.

Your journal should contain your true self rather than a picture of you when you are “made up” for a public performance."

I will record on here the way I face my challenges, particularly the challenges of same gender attraction. I want to be my "true self" on here and I'll try not to sugar coat anything or beat around the bush. I'm pretty good at that. I just want to be honest, especially honest with myself. So, here we go!

Look at me, mom! I'm blogging!