In high school, my oldest sister found her space in the band and FBLA, my middle older sister was/is a phenomenal runner. Me, the baby, had to find my space. We went to a small, rural school. Being the youngest, I was expected to follow in my sisters’ footsteps. The cross country coach felt huge disappointment when I came to his program.
Y’all. I’m not a runner. I participated in cross country because my sister was there and I didn’t want to do volleyball. There were maybe 15 girls on our team. I don’t really remember. What I do remember is being the last of those girls. We had a coach that would run with us and constantly be saying, “Running is 90% mental and 10% physical”.
I was expected to perform like Kayla because our bodies are built similar. Guess what? I didn’t. I hated running, but loved being a part of the team. Because we were so small, a lot of the meets we ran Varsity and JV races together. My parents came to everything we did. However, when you have a daughter that is at the lead of the pack and a daughter that is at the back, it makes it hard to support both.
We figured out pretty quickly that they could focus on her and encourage me when they could, no hard feelings. Kayla, you see, was there for the medal. She was there to get a college scholarship, which she did. Lucky for me because she got new shoes every two weeks in college and we wear the same shoe size! Winning!
You see, Kayla, was/is an amazing runner. She loves it. She’s really good at it. She’s a winner when it comes to running. Me…hate it. To this day we talk about after meets on the ride home, Kayla would get to look at her medal and add it to her humongous collection of them. Me…I’d talk about the pretty houses and the scenery Kayla missed because she was running so fast.
I can distinctly remember the first time this happened. I asked Kayla if she liked the house that was along the course. She said there wasn’t a house that she saw! I couldn’t believe it! It was the most gorgeous house and she had totally missed it because she was running so stinking fast focusing on what was really important to her. From then on, I filled her in on the pretty things she missed on the course. It worked. We had different reasons for being there. The coaches liked her a lot better than they liked me.
I still get asked if I’m the runner. I always hysterically laugh and say absolutely not, that’s Kayla. When I really want to screw with people, I’ll wear her half marathon shirts.
My thing was FFA. I found a space where I didn’t need any athletic ability. I found a space where if I worked hard and learned the information, I could excel at contests. I found a space where I had an advisor that means the world to me. I found a space that my talents could be put to good use. I found a space that I am so passionate about. I found a space that encourages everyone to do their thing.
FFA means the world to me. I’m involved in our FFA alumni so that we can help provide that experience for someone else. I say yes to almost anything I’m asked to do in regards to FFA because it meant so much to me in high school. Today I had the opportunity to judge the district speech contest.
Am I some amazing public speaker? Nope. But I did the speech contest when I was there. I know what the members are feeling. I’m so proud of the ones that show up. So often in life, we think we need to be the best. We can’t do our life dream because somebody else has already done it. Well, friend, that’s bull shit. The world needs YOU! The dream that is deep inside of your heart is there for a reason. Just start. The kids today weren’t perfect. But they put in the work in the classrooms and their bathroom mirrors and they showed up. That’s half the battle. They showed up. They put in the work. They started. Can you say that you’ve done that?
This year is still young, yet so many of us have given up on the things that we said this year was going to be for. We want to be perfect before we put ourselves into the world. Quit waiting. Go do it. Be like the kids I saw today. They were nervous, but they did it! They started. You go start now! You go do it!
If you enjoyed reading this, we would love it if you would hit the share button and introduce us to your friends. You all are the reason we get to do this and we’re so appreciative of that! Please help us continue serving people by sharing us with your family and friends! Leave us a comment and let us know how this has impacted your life. It’s the little things that make me so happy to continue doing this, such as a like, comment or share! Have you subscribed to the page so new blogs will arrive in your email automatically? Go to our homepage to do so! Please and thank you!
~Matt & Kelsey