My Story

This being my first post, I felt that it would be proper to use it as an introduction to who I am. My name is Lydia Beth Johnson and I live in a little town called Omaha that sits right at the tippy top of Arkansas close to the border of Missouri. I was born in Minnesota but only lived there a short few years before my family moved down to the Ozarks. Country living was my dream come true! Although I dearly missed all of the family and friends we had left behind, there were so many exciting new things to explore and discover. We bought a small herd of cows, a few kittens, and a dozen chickens, the adventures only got crazier after that. Our cows seemed to get out every week, so we'd have to go looking for them, then herd them up and lead them home bribing them with lots of grain along the way. We had so much land to explore, our hikes were always full of new sights and loads of tiny critters hiding along the paths we created. I had been homeschooled my whole life so aside from the homeschool group we went to and the library I didn't get out much. My hobbies growing up included filming/performing skits with my siblings for my parents and grandparents, building super cool forts out in the woods, dancing, and pretending I was a spy and spying on my grandparents (they were the only ones who lived anywhere near us). When I was younger I wanted to be a tap dancer when I grew up so my mom bought me a pair of tap shoes from a thrift store and I would clickity clack around the house.

Trying to smile for the photo even though we really didn't want to have our photo taken.

Baking cakes at homeschool group.

Spending time with the cattle.

Time Jump, I am now sixteen years old and my goals, hobbies, and plans have changed.

Last year I got my first job at Tallgrass, a cafe about fifty minutes away. I worked there for six months before realizing that I was majorly overworking myself and longed to spend more time at home with my family while I was still young. I quit my job and focused intently on school and soaking up the precious time with my family. Staying put for long periods of time and being being content with not doing much is something I really struggle with. Boredom comes quickly for me if I'm not working on something I consider important or I'm not passionate about. Change is something I loved and it kept me excited for life, for example whenever I felt bored I would rearrange my room just for a change of scenery. This happened almost every week. Then my older sister Chloe left for college. This was a change that was way more drastic than anything I'd ever experienced. There is nothing stronger than a sisterly bond. We'd spent our entire childhood together, laughing, cooking, exploring, adventuring, helping each other grow and encouraging one another through everything. To have such an important person plucked from my life was something I didn't know how to deal with so I got another job to distract myself from the empty feeling that I always had when I was home. Gap is where I worked for a mere month before I was whole heartedly drained once again. The burnout was real but at that time I didn't really understand that was what it was. I had gotten the job simply to distract myself from feelings that I needed to deal with and my priorities weren't in line at all. Thinking it was simply the job itself and I had no part in why it was so exhausting I moved onto my next, most recent job, Chick Fil A.

Working all of this past summer at Chick Fil A completely changed me, my social skills improved and I stoped caring what others thought of me. I met lots of wonderful people and it pushed me to get out of my comfort zone which helped me grow in so many ways.

Even though there are so many amazing things about the job, there are also down sides just like there are to everything else in life. It is a high pressure job and it lacks the personal touch of lets say a coffee shop because of how fast paced it all is. Although I grew so much there and have made so many glorious memories and friendships, my priorities have changed and it is time for me to move on. I'm going to start investing my time in creative endeavors, family time, improving my character and expanding my knowledge in many areas. There are endless things to learn and discover and I don't want to waste anytime somewhere that is no longer helping me grow. If I do get a job anytime soon, I'll work at a coffee shop and build my skills as a barista. Opening my own coffee shop/cafe has been one of my dreams for a long time and I'd like to improve in that area, perfect my technique, and learn more about that industry. I'll talk more about my goals and plans in future posts but I think that i've shared enough for now. I hope you learned a little bit about me from this post and I hope you'll come back soon to read my new posts.

-Lydia Johnson