Trevor Johnson is a Human Resources professional and a Strengths Strategy Certified Coach. Trevor is passionate about Gallup's StrengthsFinder and uses it to facilitate personal transformation through one-on-one coaching and team-building workshops.
I've been working in the nonprofit sector for all of six weeks now and I've been fighting an interesting mentality that I'll call the martyr mentality. It's this idea that, because the people I'm serving have greater needs and are in circumstances far worse than mine, I must sacrifice everything to help them - my time, my energy, and even my money. It turns out there's a lot more being sacrificed, including the quality of service being provided.
Read MoreI started coming out to family and close friends just over a year ago. Seven months later I decided to come out publicly through my blog. Both were equally terrifying, vulnerable, and rewarding. The growth I've experienced since coming out has been overwhelming and at times painful. Among the many, many things I've learned from coming out, I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on two of them: patience and love.
About two years ago I came out over the phone to a gay friend of mine whom I had met while living in Tulsa the year before. He was one of the first people I came out to - he was at a safe distance and I desperately needed to talk some things out. The first thing he said to me after I voiced my concerns was
Read MoreA few weeks ago, on a flight to Phoenix for a friend's wedding, an older woman next to me started up a conversation. She looked to be in her mid-fifties, was conservatively dressed, and had a twinkle in her eye. She warmly asked where I was headed, where I was living, and where I went to school. When I told her BYU she said, "That's in Utah right? Are you Mormon?"
"Sort of," I answered. "I grew up Mormon but ever since I came out as gay I haven't participated much." She nodded curtly and I couldn't tell if she was more uncomfortable with me being gay or being Mormon. I was familiar with this situation - growing up Mormon in Iowa had afforded me plenty of opportunities to
Read Moreby Amy Despain
I used to think I knew what charity was from what I was taught in church but I’m embarrassed to say that for me it included a “holier than thou” mindset. I felt like charity was loving and serving others but in more of a patronizing way, like, “I forgive you for being needy,” or, “I’ll love and serve you because Jesus would and I was taught to do what Jesus would do.” It was a thing on my checklist done rather insincerely. This past year I’ve experienced a significant amount of self-discovery and gone through a (sometimes painful) transformation. As part of that I’ve gained a new understanding of what I now believe is charity and I have my brother Trevor to thank.
Read MoreMy older sister Amanda got married to her husband Ben in May of last year, about 9 years after my oldest sister Amy married her husband Brandon. It had been a long time since we'd had a wedding in the family so it all seemed so new and exciting! I was 25 instead of 16 this time around so I had a lot more life experience under my belt. I felt like I could better comprehend the excitement and fear Amanda must have been feeling as she prepared to make that lifelong commitment.
I was at Amanda and Ben's marriage sealing in the Salt Lake Temple. I looked around the room at all the family and friends there to support them in the important ceremony and I thought about the significance of a temple marriage in the Mormon religion. It is considered
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