Blog — Kensie Smith

I am constantly inspired by the simplest of things and I get ideas from the most random of places. I have random notes all over the place—notebooks, sticky notes, notes in my phone—with various ideas, some better than others.

One Sunday I was watching a snapchat story and the text on someone's shirt was backwards since they had used the front-facing camera. It got me to thinking about intentionally printing something backwards so that it would read correctly when taking a selfie or looking in a mirror. On a sticky note, I quickly wrote down "reflected words" and moved on to something else.

That night when I said my prayers, the idea came back to me and I started thinking about what I would want to print backwards. I figured it would probably be some words of affirmation or something about self-worth.

My favorite game to play is truth or truth. When I think of questions, I add them to a list I keep in my phone. I went to add a question and I saw one that I had added about 6 months ago. "If you had the chance, what message would you share with the world?" That's when I remembered the idea of printing something backwards and realized what I wanted to say.

The next day, I could not get the idea out of my head. I was so distracted in all of my classes thinking about what message I wanted to share with the world. I read countless talks from General Conference since those speakers do actually get a chance to share a message with the world. I started making a list of what it was that I wanted to share.

That night when I prayed, I felt this incredible feeling and then this image filled my mind. I saw exactly what this project was supposed to be. I saw some of my friends standing in front of a mirror reading a book. I saw the room. And I had this overwhelming feeling and the thought came to my mind, "this is my project; I need you to help." I realized then that this simple idea was so much more than I had envisioned up to that point. I just started crying (the first of countless tears that would be a result of this project) because I knew this project was bigger than me or anything I could do by myself. It was no longer my idea or my project. It was Heavenly Father's and He just needed me to help out.

The room that I saw in my mind was so perfect, but I had no idea where it was or where I was going to find it. The next day, I remembered that I had seen this room before, once very quickly when a group of friends and I played a game in a building on campus. Now this building is known for being an unnavigable abyss and I had no idea where this room was. I was actually headed to a class in that same building when I realized that I had left 10 minutes before I actually needed to. I knew there was no way I could find that room in 10 minutes, but I decided to give it a try. I spent a few minutes wandering and then the thought came, "If this is my project, don't you think you ought to ask for my help?" I immediately prayed about where to find this room and then I walked straight there. I could hear someone in the room so I didn't go in all the way, but I saw enough of it to know this was indeed the room, the room I had seen when I prayed. I just started crying (crying became a reoccurring theme throughout this project) because it was proof to me that this really was God's project.

I spent the rest of that day and the next adding to that list of things I wanted to tell the world. It got really long. And overwhelming. I prayed again and then I started writing the final text. I spent hours making that list, but it literally took 10 minutes for the final text to come together. I couldn't believe it. I was already obsessed with this project, but I hadn't really told anyone about it. I finally told my friend April all about it and showed her the text I had written. We both just sat there in awe because we knew that the text on my computer screen had been divinely inspired.

The next day, I formatted all the text, reflected it, and got it ready to print. I had seen in mind people reading a book in front of a mirror so I had an idea of what it was going to look like. The next morning I had it printed and bound. I was obsessed. I couldn't stop thinking about this project. To give a sense of the timeline, I had the initial idea to print something backwards on Sunday, and had a printed book in my hands on Friday. It was insane and I know the only reason it came together that fast was because it wasn't my project.

After finding the room where I wanted to film, I stalked it for the next few days, figuring out exactly when it would be available.

I went home for a couple of days, but when I got back, I started filming on Sunday, one week after this whole thing had started. Things were going so smoothly and so quickly. And then the next day I got a concussion and couldn't really look at screens for 2 weeks. And then I had to put the project aside even longer while I focused on catching up in my classes. It was crazy working with people's schedules, but I was able to film 14 more people over the next few weeks. Despite the setbacks, things still happened much quicker than they should have been able to. I have never edited something this long or complex, and yet it went so smoothly and quickly.

I spent a long time trying to figure out what I wanted to call this project. Remember that game called truth or truth? One time the question came up, "What is the most important thing you have learned from your parents?" About 20 different answers came to my mind, but the one I went with is something my mom has always said, "You are a child of God. So is everyone else. Act accordingly." And that's when I figured out the title. Act accordingly. I want people to know just how awesome they are because when you realize your own worth, you behave differently.

And now, 2 months after that initial idea, the video has been posted. I can't tell you what it means to see it finished. To see people commenting and sharing. I can't imagine that it means to anyone else what it means to me, but I hope that it will have an impact on the way people think about themselves.

I teared up nearly every time I filmed someone because I sincerely mean every word that is on those pages. You are awesome. You are loved more than you can understand or imagine. Act Accordingly.

If you made it all the way through this post, you are a champ and most definitely deserve pizza for dinner.