What I Learned in June

When I was thinking about what I learned this month, I realized just how many things have happened to me in the last four or so weeks. I've grown a lot, and been in situations I've never experienced before. Here's what I learned in one of longest months I've been through.

1. Swing dancing is seriously amazing

My friend had her 16th birthday party at a dance hall in a sketchy part of Fort Worth, and when I saw the place for the first time I was like "what the heck did Kat get me into?" But once I got inside and started learning how to actually swing dance, I learned I'd been missing out on something amazing for years. If you get the chance, you should grab a few friends and go out dancing!

2. I am ridiculously sentimental

I cleaned out from under my bed this month, and I realized that I keep way too many things. I honestly don't care about the crafts I made in VBS when I was ten, but I still had all the little cardboard baskets and picture frames and horribly painted animal things. I keep every letter I get, even thank you notes. I keep shoe boxes and put all those sentimental things in them. It's honestly ridiculous.

3. Shopping is only fun if you let it be

Going shopping--with family or friends--is only fun if you want it to be. It can be a totally miserable experience. Trying on clothes, walking around everywhere, price tags, sales, blah blah blah. It can also be a ton of fun. My advice is to not worry about the actual buying of clothes and whatever else and just focus on being with the people you love. It'll be a thousand times more enjoyable.

4. Conversations even remotely related to confrontation terrify me

At the start of this month, I felt I had to talk to one of my close friends about some stuff that happened at speech and debate nationals, and we talked over the phone. I am not good at phone conversations, and I was kind of freaking out before the actual call happened. It ended up going fine, but it was still nerve wracking and I do not want to do that again.

5. Dreams are nothing without bravery

This month I reread Emily Freeman's book A Million Little Ways, and I was inspired by how she talked about dreams and desires being something from God, and not just selfish things from sinful hearts. God created us to do the things that make us come alive. But if we don't step out in courage, our dreams will never be realized.

6. Inside Out is an amazing movie

Go see it. It's fantastic. I cried. A lot.

7. Talking to friends is different than writing in a journal

A few weeks ago, I was texting one of my good friends and I told her about some of the stuff I was going through. Even though I'd written about those things in my journal, it was so helpful to just vent and also get her perspective on the situation. Unfortunately, my phone deleted those texts.

8. Kittens will attack anything that moves

I'll have to write more about my cat Lucie later, but for now I'll just say that she attacks literally everything, including my feet. And my face. She's a stinker!

Lucie! She's precious :*

This has been a really long month, and a lot has happened in it. It's weird that all this stuff happened in the last month. June has lasted for forever, and now it's over and I'm starting to look forward to all July will hold. And that's what's up. :)