Tuesday, January 31, 2012

"Nice wig Janice, what's it made of?"

I never sit down at my computer knowing what I'm going to type out for my next blog post. I don't really plan them, I don't really ponder over them, I just write whatever comes to mind and this, my friends, is a perfect example. 

While skimming through some of my favorite blogs that I follow, I came upon Just.Lovely.Things blog post about a girl that she might have had a mean moment with in high school. This girl, 15 years later on one of her shops Facebook wall post, was hateful to her saying that she was a different person on her blog then she was in real life.  In her blog post called "And we all grow up..." she talks about how in high school she was one person...but then she grew up and became a whole different person.

And it got me thinking about the person I was in high school and the journey I have gone on to become the woman I am today.

Now, all my college besties will laugh and tell you that from some of the stories I have told them I was indeed a high school "mean girl".

And maybe they are right.

Maybe I did judge people too quickly off what they looked like or acted like.
Maybe I did gossip a little more than I should have.
Maybe I did give people looks when they were acting "blonde" for attention, when in fact they were brunette and in the top ten of our graduating class.
Maybe I was too exclusive with all my friends.
Maybe I didn't stick up for people when I should have.

But wanna know the beauty of it all??

WE ALL GROW UP. 

I don't really know when it happened. I like to think my attitude did a 180 when I went stepped onto OBU's campus. 

For once- I was the new girl. I was the girl who didn't have friends. I was the girl panicking at lunch because I had nobody to sit with. 

And let me tell you- It was a humbling experience.

Now don't worry- Eventually I made friends. I had my wonderful roommate and suite mates but it wasn't until I pledged The Woman of EEE ( remember I went to a tiny school in Arkansas where they had "social clubs" and not "sororities") did I really understand what it meant to love somebody without judging them first. 

Pledge week is a scary/ beautiful thing because it FORCES you out of your comfort zone, it forces you to interact with people you normally wouldn't have in high school or in any other situation. It forces you to LOVE 37 girls that you have never seen in your life while being sleep deprived and covered in glitter and glue from head to toe.

You get to know girls that maybe wouldn't have fit into your tiny group of high school friends. You get to know girls that have nothing in common with you, but you learn to love what they love anyway. 

So yes, I am proud to say that I am not the girl I was in high school. Sure, I still have a lot of the same obnoxious qualities ( I am still a loud person....and I still act like a 13 year old when I get around my old best friends) but I like to think that now I give people a chance before I write them off. 

I look at them with different eyes than before. 

I try and look at people through His eyes.




How have you changed since high school? 

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting this! I think we all need this reminder at times because I think we ALL have had mean girl moments! :)

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  2. Well,that's all well and good how you aren't a mean girl any more. I am 63 years old and still feel bad when I think of being teased about my clothes in 10th grade by a girl in 12th grade. We had no money and I did the best I could.

    Words do hurt and mean people breed mean children. I don't dwell on the past at all and have a wonderful life, but...it makes me ill to hear "just get over it" from the mean girls...I don't hear any regrets.

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  3. Bethany - this is great! We've been doing the James study by Beth Moore at our church, and the lesson this week was along these lines. Think I'm gonna repost ... thanks for sharing this part of your journey:)) Hope all is going well for you!

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  4. Good job, Bethany. I believe if we are all honest with ourselves, there is a little bit of a "mean" girl in each of us--hopefully in our pasts. And I'm thankful for the friends along the way who have helped me grow up and who have been my friends unconditionally.

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