A Season For Forgetting

I’ve drafted this post six times. Partly because I want it to be perfect. Partly because I feel like I’m wasting my life striving for perfection. Mostly because I’m in the middle of a millennial life crisis. But I’m working on forgetting about it. So let’s see how this goes…

My name is Jenni. I’m nineteen-years-old and currently slumping through my senior year of college. I’m a writer of articles, novels, and screenplays. I’m a business owner who is currently in a season of daily vlogging, which means my mom and I film our lives and I edit and upload them on a daily basis. I’m also in a season of personal struggles.

Who am I kidding? I’ve been in that season of personal struggles since I was about eleven-years-old.

screen-shot-2016-12-08-at-12-08-59-pmAs Christians it seems like our first instinct is to put on this overly smiley face and act like we’ve got things together. I’ve been the same way.

I’ll pretend to be the perfect student and the perfect writer and the perfect young adult with a perfect life to match.

And that is a complete lump of coal.

That’s why I’m extremely thankful for the Christmas season. It’s my favorite time of year, because it’s a season of forgetting.

Forgetting pain and remembering joy.

Forgetting struggle and remembering delight.12249852_968177513237689_62716224425488177_n-1

Forgetting stress and remembering passion.

Forgetting perfection and remembering salvation.

You’re probably like me.

I push and push myself until I’m standing on the edge of a cliff looking over and realizing that jumping off would be a delightful change of pace.

I work and work and try to make sure every piece of writing or creative content is eloquently wrapped in perfect prose.

I stress out and try to smile like I’m not on anti-anxiety medication. Yepp. I just said it. I’m on anti-anxiety medication because I don’t know when to stop and breathe.

I don’t know when to forget about the bar I’ve set.

I don’t know when to forget about the social expectations.

But last night I received some incredible advice from someone I consider one of my best mentors. She told me to slow down and breathe. She told me not to give up, but to forget, just for a second, what it means to be stressed. To forget a schedule and live my life for once. To forget expectations and just be.

Just be.

I challenge you to the same.

BREATHE.

Right now.

This is a season of forgetting the complicated reality we all live in. It’s a season for remembering the simplicity of a baby in a manger.

Jenni Beaver

Jenni is a twenty-something storyteller from the Sunshine State. When she's not writing a novel or screenplay, she's editing a video or film for the business she co-owns with her mom. She loves animals and has SIX pets! Everyday she tries to stay positive, inspired, and caffeinated.

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