u/Skipper0463

I was thinking about the church magazines lately. We get all three in our house (Liahona, For the Strength of Youth, the Friend), but I don’t think anyone reads them. I don’t know why my kids don’t (but I can guess, kids will be kids), but I can say for myself that the Liahona is just plain boring. For a while I would try to read at least the First Presidency/Twelve message, and then flip through the rest to see if anything grabbed my attention, but I haven’t done that in some months.

Now, some of this is my fault. Life often gets in the way, and I don’t have time to do or read everything I want. But even if I have a free moment I don’t often pick up the Liahona.

This carries over to the rest of the church curriculum as well. I don’t find CFM insightful at all. I will often skip Elders Quorum for the same reason.

And to be honest, I feel terrible about this. I want to be engaged by the curriculum, I want lessons that keep me engaged, but I can’t seem to will myself to do it. Some of this is pride on my part, and I know it. I don’t really like one of our Sunday School teachers, and I don’t like his lessons or his teaching style at all. Do I feel bad about this? Yes. Have I tried to overcome it and be engaged otherwise? Also yes. Unfortunately it doesn’t work.

The result of all of this is that outside of the scriptures I almost never read any manuals or lessons or books authored by church leaders or authors.

I just want something…deeper (not deep doctrine, I don’t actually like that stuff). It’s really hard for me to put this stuff into words, so I hope I’ve expressed myself well enough. Does anyone else feel this way? What do you do if the material doesn’t work for you

This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately, so I wanted to talk about it, see if anyone has had similar experiences, and see if anyone has any tips to help with it.

We all know that imposter syndrome is big with ADHD people, and seeing success as a fluke and failure as proof. What I’ve been going through lately is only seeing life as a series of failures, not successes, and therefore terrified of the future because dealing with one more “failure” would simply be impossible to deal with. I also do this with hobbies and other things I enjoy too. Mix this with anxiety and it’s a nightmare.

This is a vicious cycle, but at least I recognize it and therefore can seek to improve. A positive mindset, as lame as it sounds, does help a little.

Anyone else ever go through this, and if so, what helped?

I would appreciate some recommendations for a new bag. First, let me explain my problem, then see if there’s a solution.

I used to always carry a backpack, but eventually transitioned to shoulder bags/messenger bags, because I prefer to more “casual” look, and I don’t want to look like a prepper with a 24 liter backpack with MOLLE webbing at Costco.

I started with a 5.11 Rush Lima messenger bag (I know, I know, I just dumped on MOLLE and preppers, but at the time it was my thing). Good bag, very durable, TONS of organization. The biggest problem is that most of the pockets and organization is INSIDE the bag, so if it’s loaded with pens and bandaids and whatever else, it greatly reduces the interior space. Need to put a jacket in there? Too bad, all the mesh pockets are full and taking up all the space.

Now I have a Timbuk2 medium messenger bag, which I really like. Lightweight, fun looking (no mistaking me for a militia member), easy strap adjustment, etc. The problem with messenger bags, however, is they are made for messengers. It’s one huge compartment with maybe a few pockets for your keys or something. Yeah, it’s got pen slots and stuff, but like the 5.11 it takes up room inside the bag, and if you load those pockets up it makes the bag sit awkward.

This is what I’m looking for: a messenger/shoulder/sling style bag that has decent space in the main body, BUT has dedicated organizational pockets on the outside. Basically, what a typical two shoulder backpack would have.

One strong contender I’ve already found is the 5.11 Moab 8. Clamshell opening (which I love), and pockets away from the main compartment for smaller items, but I’m not a huge fan of the tactical look. The other is the Greenroom136 Metromomger DX, but that seems more like a camera bag. I’ve heard nothing but love for Greenroom136 bags.

Anyway, I’d love some recommendations. A simple Google search for this type of request is useless. Thanks in advance.

This has been something I have been struggling with for a while now. I’m not exactly sure how to put it to words, so forgive me if I sound disjointed.

I have always had ups and downs with my testimony, scripture reading, prayers, etc, but I think everyone has. No one has a perfect track record for any of these things. The problem is that lately I’ve been on a down, and it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.

Usually I could balance my spiritual life and my worldly life, like work isn’t going great but my testimony can pull me through, you know? I had hope for the future, I could be comforted by the scriptures, I’d do my best to apply the atonement in my life, that sort of thing.

The problem is that my worldly life is very challenging right now and my spiritual life is completely in the dumps. Rejecting the world is great as long as you have a spiritual refuge to go to, but I don’t have that anymore.

I’m trying to do all the regular stuff like scripture reading, church attendance, serving in my calling, etc, but I only ever get worse, not better. The harder I try, the less hope I have.

Which brings me to the question I asked in the title: does the atonement give you comfort? If I’m being honest, it doesn’t give me any. Like, no matter what I try I wake up every morning miserable. How is the atonement supposed to help us in our day to day struggles? It doesn’t help me at my job, it doesn’t ease my anxiety or lift me out of depression, and I don’t feel like a better person because of it.

I’ve tried to talk to my wife about this but usually just drag her down and add to her own anxiety, which I feel terrible about.

I read a lot too, mostly philosophy, theology, spiritual writings, that sort of stuff, as well as daily scripture reading (I’m reading the OT for CFM). I can’t find any answers, and if I start to feel like I’m making some progress I get pulled right back to where I was before (or lower).

I’d love some advice if you have any. And I hope this doesn’t break any of the mods rules. I really need some feedback.

I know what it’s like to read with ADHD: you can read a whole page and realize your mind was elsewhere and you didn’t actually read a thing, so you have to read the sentence/paragraph/page over and over again, hoping you’ll finally read the actual text on the page.

I find, however, that using highlighters helps with this, because I’m constantly scanning the page looking specifically for sentences, phrases, paragraphs to highlight. It’s like hyper focus reading.

I’ll also look up phrases in other languages, or quotations not cited, and write them in the margins. I can engage with the text because it’s now interactive and hands on.

Anyway, it seems to help me. Anyone else feel like highlighting or note taking helps them with reading?

How is everyone feeling about the fast President Oaks has asked us to do tomorrow? TBH, I’m conflicted about it. My patriotism and testimony have been a little rocky lately, which probably has something to do with it. I think what bothers me most is that we’re supposed to be fasting to be grateful for the constitution, and the freedom of religion it affords us, that sort of thing, but yet we share space with members who actively support politicians who are seemingly trying to undermine those rights. Quite frankly, that bothers me a lot.

Now, I want an actual discussion, so please no “Well, we shouldn’t be judging people” responses. I don’t like the self righteous replies. I really want to hear what everyone thinks.

Is anyone else here a fan of the show Psych? It’s one of my all time favorites, and one particularly aspect of the show is that the main character, Shawn Spencer, carries a Swiss Army knife (he calls it a Swiss) and uses it from time to time in his work as a psychic detective, a habit instilled in him by his father. The only problem: you never get a good look at the kind he uses. He’ll say stuff like “Hand me my Swiss” but then his hands are off screen. You briefly see it after cutting some rope that was restraining his then girlfriend Abigail, but I don’t think the shot was good enough to establish a positive ID.
So my question isn’t “What kind does he use?” but “What kind do you THINK he would use?” Shawn is a complicated guy. Some things he cares deeply about, other things not so much. I think his Swiss would fall under the latter. To me, he’d pick the cheapest one from any store that sells them, so that would be Recruit, Tinker, Super Tinker, Huntsman, Camper, etc (I’ve seen all of these at my local Walmart). He might have a preference on certain tools, like the screw driver on the Tinker, but maybe not. Also, size would be an issue. I don’t see him carrying anything too bulky, as he prefers to have little in the way of worldly possessions.
But what does everyone else think? Is Shawn particular about his Swiss, or does he not care too much?

Growing up in the ‘90’s I listened to a lot of my parents music, which was dominated by bands that had their heyday in the 70’s (when my parents were in high school), as well as some bands from the 60’s. These bands dominated “classic rock” stations, which was distinct from music from the 80’s and 90’s. So to me “classic rock” is a distinct period of time referencing specific bands. But not all bands coming out of the 70’s would be considered classic rock. I’d never call The Ramones classic rock, they’re punk. Same era, different styles/genres, whatever.

So I don’t think bands should age into classic rock status. Green Day? Not classic rock. Established? Sure. Classic? No. They came out of a very distinct music scene and became popular when alternative rock dominated the airwaves. This is a distinct musical era, separate from the 70’s. I think the 80’s stand alone, as do the 90’s.

Anyway, that’s where I stand. Any other thoughts?

I was thinking about sitting in rows versus sitting in a circle for classes, specifically Elders Quorum (adult Sunday school is in the chapel, so sitting in rows is default), and when it started and whether one is better than the other.

Personally, I don’t like the circle thing. I think the whole idea is that it feels less like a lesson and more like a discussion, but I don’t see any difference as far as participation is concerned. Sitting in a huge circle in the overflow with nothing but space between everyone just feels awkward. And the guys on the other side of class are really far away. Also, EQ feels more like a support group than a quorum of priesthood holders, but that’s a bigger issue than how the chairs are arranged.

Sorry, just a little weird late night rant. Anyone else have a preferences one way or the other?