first things first.

I'm the type of person who needs to take one thing at a time. If you give me fifteen thousand events to be excited about, I can only focus on the one that comes first. I'm not at a place in my life where I even have fifteen thousand things planned, but there are three big things coming up quickly: October 10th: last day at my current job // October 12th: head to Uganda // October 29th: start my new job.

Y'all. Let me just tell you. My mind is spinning right now. I'm feeling all sorts of emotions about the aforementioned events, and I'm certainly not feeling grounded or peaceful. I kind of feel like I'm stuck in a current that's pulling me along as I continue to flail and fight to find dry land. Know what I mean? It's frustrating. Life is happening, and I feel too discombobulated and disoriented to enjoy it. I need to be able to slow down.  I really need to pray more, journal more, and connect more with myself. I'm an introvert, and when I don't give myself time to do this, I get to feeling like I'm just all over the place. Thankfully, I've got a couple weekends coming up where I'll be able to do just that: rest.

I'm super excited about all of the changes that are in store, come October. But pray that I can be in the moment so that I can really soak in each experience, instead of looking at what's ahead. Life already goes by way too fast, and I don't want to let it just pass me by.

smalley center's personality test.

The leaders of our trip gave us the link to a personality test to help us understand our strengths and weaknesses in a group context. I love things like this. And my results couldn't have been more exact:

• Relational Strengths: warm, relational, loyal, enjoys routine, peace-maker, sensitive feelings, accurate and precise, focuses on quality control, discerning, analytical
• Strengths Out of Balance: attracts the hurting, can miss opportunities, often stays in a rut, sacrifices own feelings for harmony, is easily hurt and can hold a grudge, can be too critical and controlling, can be too negative of new opportunities, can lose overview
• Communication Style: indirect, two-way, great listener, factual... weaknesses: can use too many words or provides too many details, desire for detail and precision can frustrate others
• Relational Needs: emotional security, agreeable environment, quality, exact expectations
• Relational Balance: needs to learn to say no, needs to establish emotional boundaries, needs to learn to confront when own feelings are hurt, realize that total support is not always possible, and know that thorough explanation isn't everything