Finding Your Inner John Wayne

Hello everybody! My name is Kiran Elam and I am currently serving as the Kansas FFA State Treasurer. My hometown is Beloit, KS in the North Central District. My favorite CDE is livestock judging. I’ve had some of my best moments in a suburban headed to various contests jamming out and getting pumped with my teammates and advisor. A fun fact about me is that I will forever love cowboy movies. John Wayne was my idol growing up.
Watching John Wayne movies wasn’t just a good excuse to hang out with my grandpa, they were learning moments. John Wayne and his friends taught me a lot about life. I learned a lot of valuable lessons that I continue to carry with me on my journey.
In the last blog, Bailey told us how important dreams are. I couldn’t agree more. I have always been a dreamer. However, when it comes to achieving them, that’s a whole new story. When I sat down and looked at all the dreams I had as a kid, I wanted to find what had stopped me from achieving some of those dreams. When I really dug deep, I found that I was the only thing standing in my way. There were times that I was scared to fail. I was scared that I couldn’t meet my own expectations for myself. As I reflected on all of the things I might have missed out on because I was scared, I heard John Wayne’s voice in my head. “Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”
I had always thought that people who achieved their dreams were scared of nothing and no one. I thought that people who risked boldly simply had the utmost confidence in themselves and weren’t scared of failure. I was wrong. It’s okay to be scared. In fact, your dreams aren’t big enough if you’re not scared to death. We have to dig deep and find our inner John Wayne. There were times when he was scared. He faced some pretty daunting desperadoes. However, he ALWAYS saddled up anyway.
Chasing your dreams will rarely be easy. You may be scared of the obstacles waiting on the path you’re following or the one you’re paving for yourself. You’re going to have to work hard to get over the obstacles. I won’t lie to you and tell you that chasing your dreams is all sunshine and rainbows. There will be storms and maybe even a Kansas tornado or two. However, if you push through those storms, you can achieve your dreams and it will all be worth it. Don’t let fear force you to give up on your dreams.

Will you choose to SADDLE UP ANYWAY?

Find your inner John Wayne,

Kiran