Lindsey McDonald

I remember sitting in the holding room for the state parliamentary procedure contest my junior year. Normally when it came to parli, I kept it together pretty well. There may have been the occasional foot tap or telling my teammates I was nervous, but this time was different. I was really nervous. I’m talking hyperventilating, sweating, shaking. I didn’t know if I was going to make it into the contest room before my nerves got the best of me. 

Nevertheless, after a pep talk from my teammates, two of my best friends sat with me and held my hands, keeping me present and talking about things to take my mind off of the daunting task at hand. They finally led us to the room, and we proceeded to do one of our best performances yet. The motions were moved right, our debates were great, and we ran over time by a few seconds, but we felt that it was one of our best runs so far. And that was enough for us. We didn’t end up moving on, we had some tough competition, but we were still so proud of how far our team had come. All those early morning practices and quizzes over motions and their requirements had led us to this point. I remember looking at my teammates and though I was disappointed we didn’t make it on, I was content with what we had accomplished together. District winners, inside jokes, lots of laughter and so many memories made. 

Our advisor, Mr. Prewitt, still let us know how proud he was of us and all of the work we had put in over the season. As I look back on that memory, I realize no title we could have won or plaque we could have received could have topped the feeling of my team rallying around each other and giving their all to accomplish everything we did. 

Ever since I joined FFA, there is one word I can use to describe my life: busy. It seemed as though there was always some new event or contest I could do, and I was not about to pass up an opportunity to do something with FFA. I will never regret any of the opportunities I’ve taken advantage of in FFA, but I will say it left me feeling overwhelmed at times, like I was struggling to keep my head above water. 

I would often miss class for trips and though I did a good job of keeping up with my schoolwork and communicating with my teachers, sometimes deadlines are still deadlines. Since beginning college, I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in so many new things, and with that comes finding a healthy balance. Oftentimes I have to prioritize things, which sometimes means missing out on one thing because another was higher on my list. 

Needless to say, there’s always a lot going on in my life, and I know I’m not the only one. Sometimes, it leaves me feeling stressed. But when I start to feel stressed, I think at what an amazing privilege it is to be stressed. I have opportunities set right in front of me not everyone else in the world has. And for that, I feel grateful. I’m blessed to stay busy, I’m blessed to build communities that care about me, and I’m blessed to have the good health to do it all. Sometimes we get so caught up in the blur of everyday life that we spend too much time stressing and forget to make time to focus on our blessings. 

Yes, I can.

I’ve always told myself to expect the worst possible outcome. Any time I would deliver a speech, submit an application or turn in a test, I always immediately told myself that I failed. Why did I do this, you might ask? Because I was scared of the disappointment that came with failure. If I set my expectations on the floor, there was no way for me to be disappointed. It didn’t matter if I knew the test material inside and out, or I gave the best speech of my life, I automatically failed in my head.

This made my wins seem a lot sweeter in my head. I had already decided that I couldn’t, so I had proved myself wrong on that front. I mean, sure, my losses didn’t sting as much…right? But it left me with a question sitting in the back of my head: “What if I had believed that I could?” If I had confidence in myself and went in with a positive mindset instead of constantly putting myself down, what more could I have accomplished?

Failure is a necessary part of life that helps us grow and learn. When we learn to embrace failure, we unlock all of the valuable knowledge that comes with it. Once we gain that knowledge, we can no longer count it a failure, because we’ve gained the experience and are better because of it. But let’s not forget, embracing failure does not equal expecting failure. Don’t tell yourself, “No, I can’t,” but “Yes, I can, and I will!”