Just Share It!

At first I was dreading sharing my essay with people. So I decided to start slow and share with someone that I was very comfortable with. That ended up being my cousin, Scott. We are pretty close, and the essay I wrote is about our grandpa, so I thought he would like it. And he did! In fact, he asked if it was alright if he shared it with his mom (my aunt). It was really encouraging to hear back positive feedback, and it emboldened me to share more.

I also decided to share Keegan's essay with a recent convert who is considering going on a mission. I had thought of this friend and thought he could appreciate a story about someone's missionary experiences and how it had affected their life. Because of this, I chose to share Keegan's essay and this led to some meaningful discussion. We talked about where he would want to go if he could choose, and I told him about where I had served my mission too.

Because of my success sharing someone else's essay, I decided to share Katie's essay with my little sister. My sister is a sophomore in high school, so I thought she would appreciate this essay because Katie talked about going to dances, which is something that my sister is fascinated with. My sister said the essay was fantastic, and she wanted to read more, so I sent her my essay. After reading it she told me it was "srsly awesome" and she compared me to one of her favorite authors. It was a cool chance to connect with her, even though we are at very different stages in our lives.

Here are some short tips from my experiences about how to best share personal content like this.

-Have a plan, and think about who you will share with and how to share it
-Don't be scared, these people are your friends
-Start with the lowest-pressure sharing, such as a close friend
-From that expand to others that you feel the message could help
-Share in a natural way: feel free to tell them you're doing it for a class, and why you thought of them
-Ask what they thought

I hope this helps others with their sharing!