Dani Titus? Who is she?

                As I sat here today pondering ways I could introduce who I am, I began to evaluate the obvious aspects of me – my Grandpa’s red hair, my blue eyes that I love, my height of hardly 5’2, my relaxed style, my plain-ol’ name. Before today, I’ve never looked into what my name literally means. Of course, there have been situations when other people talk about the meaning of their name and I ponder the possibilities at that time, but that thought never quite develops into action. That thought is quickly replaced by the next item on my agenda and I forget all about it. Today, that quick sense of curiosity came flooding back to me and my fingers quickly found the keyboard. With faster-than-lightning speed, Google directed me to parentsconnect.com. This handy site informed me that in both the Hebrew and French languages, Danielle is the feminine form of Daniel which means “God is my judge.” I couldn’t believe how perfect that was! A big part of who I am comes from my relationship with God. I know that God is my only judge and many times I have to remind myself of that. On the days I’m feeling self-conscious or I do something clumsy or my words seem to dig me into a bigger hole than I’m already sitting in, I have to take a step back and remind myself that God’s opinion of me is the only one that matters. The things people say, the judgment they pass, and the little smirks as people walk by are all things that should just roll off people’s shoulders. I think that knowing that is one reason I am as laid back as I am. Granted, I don’t always succeed at that hefty task. I know it can be extremely hard most of the time. But some days I think about how many worries would be swept away if we only worked to please God instead of everyone else.  Pleasing God shapes a lot of what I do as a person. The choices I make, the things I say, and the actions I take are all a reflection on God. Why would I want to reflect badly on him?
                Probably one of the hardest places to keep tabs on my behavior is during sports. Things get intense and sometimes I lose myself to the game. One way I’ve been working on that issue is with my involvement in Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Over the last year or so, it has taught me ways to keep myself in check – which is not always an easy task. I am a very competitive person by nature but I have to make sure that competitiveness doesn’t overstep the balance of the way God wants me to carry myself. FCA is just one example of the way my involvement in school has shaped me.
               As that shows, the organizations I am involved in get a lot out of me and I get a lot out of them in return.  I am involved in NHS as an officer, FBLA as an officer, Color guard as the captain, FCA, FCG, Band, Softball, Basketball, and even Math Club. The thing is, though, over the years I’ve discovered that being as busy as I am is what keeps me going. I absolutely love running around like crazy, speeding around to back-to-back meetings, and having so much to do. Of course, as we found out in class today, sometimes my duties carry over to other parts of my day. As Dr. English caught me working on an FBLA poster instead of my blog, I sheepishly realized that this is one thing I do a lot. I try to balance out and prioritize without even realizing it. Now,  I’m not saying that FBLA is more important than my blog, I just mean that at that moment doing the posters seemed more logical to do at school because I could use the printing there. I knew that I would be able to knock out my blog at home when I had my iPod to tune out the world and write – which is one of my favorite things. Of course, Dr. English may have a different opinion of my logic but that is an excellent example of the way I am. I am constantly trying to juggle all of my activities in the timeliest manner. Part of the reason I think that I like to be so crazily busy is because after all the running around for the day is over and I’m lying in bed, I feel like I got something accomplished that day. I have to admit that one of the best feelings ever is marking something off of my To-Do list. The physical act of crossing it off gives me so much satisfaction that I don’t even care how hard of a task it was – if I got to cross it off, it was worth it. A little anal, I’m sure, but I don’t care. I am an organizational freak and proud.
                 So who knows if you’ve learned anything about me throughout this way-over-the-word-limit blog, but I think I might’ve discovered a few things about myself. My name means “God is my only judge” and I’m going to use that as a simple reminder for the days I need it. The organizations I’m involved in have had a bigger effect on who I am than I even realized. Sometimes my time management tactics can get me in trouble, but I can always get the job done anyway. The best feeling in the whole world is crossing off tasks off of my lengthy list. In fact, after I finish this last sentence I’ll get to check off this blog post from that list, too – yay for Dani!