Accountability

Recently, my two best friends and I decided to be proactive about avoiding the “freshman fifteen” by starting a fitness group. Every day, we tell each other how much we exercised and what healthy eating options we made. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love to bake all kinds of delicious desserts, and being home for break has allowed me to pursue this hobby whenever I please. It has been difficult for me to stick with the fitness group, considering my knack for baking and the fact that my eyes are larger than my stomach. However, knowing that my friends are holding me to a higher standard has given me a sense of ACCOUNTABILITY.
The holiday season is a great time to evaluate where we are. We feel connected to friends and family as we celebrate the holidays together, and, when January rolls around, we begin to make New Year’s Resolutions. Creating these goals for ourselves is a good step, but it is only the beginning of a longer journey. Maybe we resolve to keep a 3.5 GPA for the next semester. Perhaps we pledge to improve our leadership, or vow to spend more time with family. Yet it always seems that we get caught up with the multitude of things that are going on in our lives, and these resolutions are forgotten. If we rely solely on ourselves, this is often the case.
On our state officer team this year, we have “accountabilibuddies” (a term that refers to an accountability partner). Our accountabilibuddy system helps us make sure that we are staying on track with our goals as officers, as well as any personal goals that we want to achieve. Having an accountabilibuddy to keep us honest prevents us from giving up too easily. Knowing that someone has the faith in us and expectation for us to achieve our goals is encouraging.
So, yes, it is a challenge for me to not eat a slice of pie for breakfast (I mean, it has fruit, that’s healthy, right?). But, I know that my two friends are having similar struggles, and it would be disloyal of me to break my promise to them. As we look towards the new year, let us turn to the people we love and trust the most to establish our accountability.

Forever blue,

Grace Luebcke

Kansas FFA State Secretary