After I got home from an FFA event earlier this summer, my
family decided to take our boat out onto the lake. My brother, Ben, had just bought
a kneeboard, and he could not wait to
try it out. Ben is good at kneeboarding, and he was not just able to stay up,
but he could also do 360°
spins, jump over wakes, and stay on in even the roughest waters. As I sat in
the boat and watched Ben soar on the water, I just kept thinking about how
incredibly fun it looked.
“Katie, do you want to try?” Ben asked as he pulled himself
out of the water.
This is when my mind suddenly started to worry. Of course I
thought it looked fun, but it also looked hard. And scary. I told myself that it
wouldn’t even be much fun and decided to maybe try later.
As the day wore on, I yearned to want to take on the
adventure of kneeboarding, and I finally built up enough courage and tried it.
To my dismay, I failed. I couldn’t even pull myself up onto the board much less
stay up on it. I swam back to the boat beyond frustrated and ready to quit.
Ben, however, had another agenda. He let me regroup myself, gave me a few
pointers, and sent me back out. I laid on the board unconfident, nervous, and
scared. Suddenly, the boat flew away, and before you know it, I was up on the
board.
Life is full of scary things. When I think of of things that
instill fear in me, my mind drifts to horror movies, haunted houses, and those
frightening monsters people call wasps. These are things that send chills up my
spine and occasionally cause me to cover my eyes. These are not the only things
that scare me in life though. Life is full of experiences and adventures, and
sometimes, these parts of life can be scary, too.
For these scary moments in life though, we do not want our
eyes closed. You see, as soon as we close our eyes, we close doors. I’ve
learned that it’s okay to be scared of something, but we have to be able to put
that fear away. We need to be able to grab ahold of adventure and enjoy life. If
we let fear take over, we will never experience some of the greatest adventures
of our life. This is hard for me. I struggle every day with this thought. I
fear getting hurt, I fear not being able to make friends, and I fear failure.
This can stop me from doing a lot of things, and that’s why I remind myself
daily to jump in and grab ahold of the kneeboard.
This Friday, I’m about to jump in again. I will soon make
Brookings, SD my home as I head to South Dakota State University to become a
jackrabbit. Just like the kneeboard, the prospect of going to college is so
exciting, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Moving away from my
family and friends and becoming independent is not going to be easy. I’ve
learned though that if it scares you, you really should try it. So in two days,
I will be taking on my next adventure, and I want you to come with me.
When I say this, I don’t mean truly come to Brookings (although,
I’d love it if I was surrounded by thousands of FFA members). I want you to
come with me in spirit. As the new school year approaches, our lives will be
filled with new opportunities and adventures. Whether it’s trying a new CDE,
applying to be an officer, or starting your first job for your SAE, it will
scare us. But, that won’t stop us. Just like when I went kneeboarding for the
first time, we may fail at first but that is okay. Failure is part of life, and
the greatest part of failure is that we can overcome it.
Just this past week, I got to go kneeboarding again. As I
soared behind the boat, I practiced mastering 360°
spins and jumping over wakes. You see, I felt on top of the world. I’ve learned
that usually the things that seem the scariest are the best things in life.
They give us a feeling of adventure, accomplishment, and happiness. When we feel
this, we learn to love the scary things.
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