What Has Changed Me … Donielle’s Long-Winded Answer

Meeting my Lucky Husband – It’s almost hard to know how that one changed me because it happened so early in my little life. I think we’ve influenced each others’ opinions, interests, beliefs, and sense of humor so much over the years it would be impossible to figure out what traits started with who. But it’s safe to say that nothing else on this list would have happened without him.
Baptism – I almost didn’t include this one, as weird as that sounds, because at first I thought finding the gospel didn’t really change who I am that much … probably because it happened so slowly. I had been searching for it for what felt like forever in my teenage-reckoning-of-time, and I did my best to adopt into my life each piece of truth I learned along the way. Yes, my life would have turned out vastly different had I not found the gospel – it’s scary to think about how differently it could have turned out. But I think the thing that actually “changed” my life was my baptism. I don’t think it changed me at all that day, really. But my baptism was the formal commitment - putting my faith into action - that held me on the path I was already on. I had been attending church for quite awhile, I was very close to graduating institute, no one from the outside could have known I wasn’t Mormon. But by making that commitment I gained the strength of becoming an official member of a world-wide church; and as such I had responsibilities. I think that is what “changed” me and shaped my actions in the future – not just my belief that I had finally found the truth.
Serving a Mission – It would be impossible to list all the ways my mission changed me. It was a lot of exercise - exercising charity, compassion, faith, courage; learning how to talk to people, and teach people. It opened my eyes to a lot about human nature and many of the plagues of our society; racism (I honestly thought that was pretty much over), poverty, close-mindedness, complacency, pride, selfishness … Not that I learned much about what to DO about those things, but I definitely got an education!
Childbirth – This feels like the big one for me, maybe because it’s the most recent – again, I don’t think I could possibly list all the ways becoming a mother has changed me. I wrote “childbirth” because I think that was a big part of it. Not that I would ever want to sound like one of those “my-birth-was-better-than-your-birth-nazis,” but knowing what I was able to accomplish really did change me. Sheri Dew said, “You don’t know how strong you are until you’re forced to show it.” Finding out that my body was strong enough to grow a kid, push it out, make food for him, and run on nothing but adrenaline for awhile gave me a sort of feminist pride I’d never felt before. Feeling the instincts and tangible intuition of mommy-hood proved to me that we are hard-wired by our creator much more than we realize. I knew motherhood was the “highest, noblest calling” and all that jazz, but to learn how perfectly Heavenly Father designed every aspect of not only our spiritual and emotional traits as women, but also our physical bodies gave me a much stronger testimony that this whole family-thang is a huge part of His plan for us. I never appreciated my body before becoming a mother. I was never pretty enough or strong enough, or useful enough. But now, I can honestly say I love my body. Not in the way I hoped I would as a teenager … when I kept my fingers crossed that a few more years could still turn me into a Katherine Zeta-Jones, but in a much deeper, respectful, proud way. I definitely strive to take better care of my body (which probably comes a lot from trying to protect my son’s little body from all the poisons we’ve surrounded ourselves with in this world) and I’m not intimidated by things anymore. I do feel like I can accomplish whatever I put my heart and mind to (which is a little weird to say not on a motivational poster.) I think the only reason mothers don’t run out and conquer the world after they realize their strength is because this epiphany results in an incredibly fierce love for a little creature that suddenly moves in and takes over EVERY aspect of your life. (Which, strangely enough, we couldn’t be happier about. Go figure.)