Let it Shine, Let it Shine, Let it Shine!

Other cultures are my favorite!  The Lantern Festival marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. They light beautiful lanterns and solve riddles. 

 My best friend invited me to UIS's own version of the Lantern Festival, put on by the Asian Club. Social anxiety, however, is its own riddle. For a shy girl, even something like this may be difficult. You might end up feeling like you are watching all the fun from the outside. And even when people attempt to reach out to you, you screw it up. 

Well, it sounded fun to me, but I did not realize what a blast it was going to be.

 
There weren't masses of lanterns that filled the night sky like there are in China. Yet the room was, as if through a Chinese lantern, full of a happy glow which seemed to seep through a razzle-dazzle film of color on faces all around. 

This adventure turned out to be full of laughs and wonder, while my anxiety remained under control. I even won three plates of delicious dumplings!

 That night, as I reflected, I realized to what extent therapy had paid off. I thanked Heavenly Father over and over that I was simply able to be around other people and see their smiles, without feeling afraid.

I felt almost how I felt when I was a kid. Before I developed pretty bad anxiety.

The sad thing about people with social anxiety is that some of us can remember a time when we didn't have it. When we called out to a neighbor across the street, when we ran through the house screaming, dressed in a super hero costume. Like this one Halloween when I dressed as a sunbeam.

Lights among riddles. It seems people all around the world want that light, that something, that helps us solve the enigmas that stall love and happiness.

The African Children's choir, to me, is infused with this love and happiness. If you listen to these cutie pies, think about the fact that you still have that sweet, soulful light you had when you were a child. You just have to let it shine.

Zai jian (goodbye in Mandarin Chinese)
Ar tufat (goodbye in Berber, an African dialect)
and
Namaste  (goodbye in Napalese)