Miles Paved With Joy

900 miles, multiple chapters, a meeting with the governor, and week that I will never forget. This past week I can truthfully say that it was one of the best experiences of my life. Whether that was presenting about importance of FFA to eighth graders at Centre and Plainville or enjoying Mountain Oysters at Peabody, I know that the members have impacted myself considerably. I wish I could capture all of the wise words they have said but I can only capture a few. My idea for career success, taking an initiative, and enjoying the little things have changed drastically over this past week.

While helping with the Amazing Race in Hillsboro, an FFA member shared an amazing career goal with me. He was a Junior who worked on a local swine operation and he wanted to be an auctioneer. At first I was taken back. I asked, “Have you ever auctioned before?” He looked at me and started rattling off numbers and prices like a professional. I was amazed, I had no idea how he learned to speak so quickly and fluently. He stated how he auctioned professionally and plans to attend an auctioneer school in Missouri. I was fascinated by all of this, but what took me back the most was how he genuinely loved that career. His love for his career made myself think of my own. What makes me happy? Why does it make me happy? Throughout our lives we accomplish a lot. How many of those accomplishments make us happy and actually fulfill our lives? WE need to find the professions/organizations/hobbies that make us happy. Everyone is different but I believe we can all find that one thing that makes us happy.

     Finding a career that makes you happy is one goal of mine now, but taking an initiative is an importance I saw throughout the Erie FFA chapter this week. We came into their Ag room and you could tell something had happened. The officer team was frantically running and cleaning a mess from the fridge to outside. I looked at their advisor and I could see pride in her eyes. Apparently someone had put a broken orange juice in the fridge. The officer team jumped right in to drink the rest of the jug of orange juice (very important) and have a deep refrigerator cleaning. In college I would see students just leave the mess and never clean it up. The initiative these officers took didn’t just make their advisor proud but also our whole organization. When we are part of FFA we are known to accomplish tasks like this without hesitation. It just becomes part of the norm that is expected. As we see an opportunity it is important that WE take the initiative.

Although having careers that make us happy and taking an initiative is excellent, all of it would be in vain if we didn’t enjoy the little things. I had a refresher of my high school memories throughout FFA week. A few teammates and I stopped by the Northeast District dance to bring back old memories. You could say we danced the night away and learned about the members of the district. We learned how some could dance, some couldn’t, and some just wanted to have fun. This was much needed for myself. Dancing always loosened me up and helped me forget about all of the stress that I had. In life, if we don’t stop and enjoy the little things, then we truly won’t enjoy what we have. With the stress of life WE need to find those little things that we enjoy and can rid of us stress.

I wish that every FFA week from this point on can be the same that I have had this past week. I know that won’t be true though, I know that this week next year will be completely different. I can bring throughout my life though the memories that I have had and the lessons that I have learned. I now understand that I need to find a career that makes me happy and I have a more distinct path. I know that taking the initiative is important, but most of all I know that I should enjoy the little things that I have. With this year coming to a quick end, I cherish the memories that I have with the individuals that I have the unique opportunity to meet.