ACCORDING TO ZAC

When I was teaching a lesson in church once in the last couple of years, someone remarked that he was trying to be grateful for gratitude's sake, and not just in juxtaposition to the things that he saw other people experiencing. I've long thought about that notion and tried to incorporate it into my life. It's true that comparison puts some things into perspective, in terms of how fortunate we might be. But it also creates unhelpful and unhealthy imbalances in the way we envision our own suffering, our own accomplishments, and our own worth. I'm learning to tread carefully on the comparison thing. The last several weeks have been unusual, to say the least. As we continue to practice social distancing, I can't help but feel disconnected and long for "normal" life to return. I miss seeing people whenever I wanted. I miss the time that I had a little less dread (although I'd hardly count myself as germaphobic, nor hypochondriacal, so fortunately my drea...

"Nevertheless, my life is in flux. Though it's going in the direction that it was meant to go, I just can't grasp how anything will ever be like it was not so long ago.” I wrote that in a blog post the summer I turned 21. It was a momentous year: I was waiting for a mission call, I had felt reassured and found joy in pursuing my journalism degree, the singles ward was a fun and engaging place for me, etc. But even among those good things, it didn’t exempt me from the happenings of life. I felt discomfort in confronting the ambiguities before me, including worry about how my relationships would change as I left friends and family for two years. I was so anxious about exiting what might have been the prime of my life to never be able to reclaim it. I look back at that person, now nine years younger than me, and I think, “You have no idea what’s in store.” My mission experience would be incredible, and I’d go on to finish my degree and love it. I came home from my miss...