Introduction

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my blog! This is the first one I've ever written, though I've thought about blogging many times.

What is this blog about?

I know exactly what this blog is going to be about for the first month and a half. After that? I'll just have to see where life takes me! For now, I'm going to use this space to blog about my experience as an intern at Best Friends Animal Society. Best Friends is a place I've dreamed of working with for over a decade. I first learned about the animal sanctuary in college. I highly suggest you check out their website and learn more about this amazing place that saves and nurtures thousands of animals. If you are an animal lover, you will love Best Friends.

I received last-minute notice (it's a long story) that I was accepted into their internship program for the September-October session. Yes, it is already September. I only have 6 days until I leave my home in Minnesota to start my experience there! I will be interning for 5 weeks and I want to blog my experience for several reasons. First of all, I never want to forget it! Secondly, I'd like to keep my family and friends in the loop. And thirdly, I'd love to give people a glimpse into the Sanctuary and to the amazing work that is done there. Oh yeah, and I've just always wanted a blog. 

So for the next few days, I will be getting ready to leave home and head out to the canyons of Utah. I've lived in a lot of places, but nothing as remote as Kanab, UT! I plan to keep everyone posted throughout my experience, as I love to write and I adore photography. If they allow it, I will have my camera on me at nearly all times, so expect lots of pictures!

Why is the blog called "The Strength Is Within?"

I really struggled to come up with a blog name. I wanted something that would would be apt to describe my experience at Best Friends because that may be the extent of this blog. However, I wanted to keep it broad enough that I could continue the blog in other directions once my internship is over. I came up with the name The Strength Is Within as I was falling asleep last night and I just smiled as I was drifting off, knowing it was the perfect name.

The animals at Best Friends are all there for a reason: maybe it's a rough past, an illness, a brush with death, or a behavioral problem. But they're all there because they have dealt with or are currently dealing with difficulty in life. Yet, Best Friends doesn't give up on them, and so many of them, despite horrible circumstances, don't give up on themselves. They blossom at the Sanctuary and find the strength within them to heal and learn. Their resilience amazes me.

On a more personal note, I have gone through some difficult times myself with health/medical troubles. I've certainly spent more time in operating rooms and medical establishments than I'd wish on anyone else! So that has left me never quite feeling "safe" that something bad isn't waiting for me again right around the corner. I feel my safest when I'm near home, surrounded by family and the support systems that I've cultivated here. But I don't always want to feel so strongly about that. I'd like to travel more and do more with life and feel safe. I think this comes from not relying on others to make me feel safe, but in knowing that I have the strength within me to get through whatever life throws at me, no matter where I am. I don't fully feel that yet, but this past year, I've come a long way in starting to believe it. And hey, now that I've named my blog about it, I'll definitely start internalizing it, right?

Fun fact: sea turtles are one of my favorite animals because I feel that they embody what I'm looking for; they carry their homes and their safety on their back wherever they go. They've survived for so long through so many difficult things, while other species have died out. They really do carry their strength within them at all times. That is what I strive to feel someday. I think this internship is going to be a great challenge and exercise in carrying my own strength: I'm going to a place that is entirely unfamiliar, I will not know a soul, and I feel like I really don't know what exactly I'm getting myself into! Not to mention that I'm a city girl at heart and will be living in what seems like the middle of nowhere. I can't wait to carry my strength there with me and absorb the positivity and caring nature of the Sanctuary while helping them as much as I can!

So now that we know I've got my strength with me, it's time to start thinking of packing all the other things I'll need! Thanks for reading and starting this adventure with me!