Allie Wagner

Almost everyone loves to travel, me included. So, when I found myself Indiana-bound for National FFA Convention last October, I couldn’t help but be thrilled for the journey ahead. I sat in the passenger seat next to my ag teacher, picking out songs to listen to, eating an outrageous number of snacks and doing anything that would make time pass more quickly. I was also assigned to be our “navigator” for the way there, so I used the Maps app on my phone to ensure we were headed in the right direction. We passed by big pastures of cattle, freshly harvested crop fields and vast stretches of land. Being the navigator throughout the open road of highway was the easy part, but the city lanes, avenues and stoplights were like comparing a walk in the park to climbing Mount Everest. However, the traffic lanes and congested rush hour streets weren’t even the worst part. It was the massive concrete barriers on each side of the narrow road when road work was being carried out. Of course, the fact that we were driving a wide 12 passenger van didn’t help, but I thought we could plunge into the side of these barriers at any minute, and our trip to National Convention would be ruined. Evidently enough, this fear was completely in my head, but it felt like we would never make it past them. My ag teacher, after I expressed this somewhat trivial nervousness, said “Allie, sometimes you must face the scary things before you can make it to where you are going. You just have to do it.” 

Fast forward to that spring, I had to present my first extemporaneous speech ever. It was completely outside of my comfort zone, and I was excited to try something new, but the unbelievable part was that I wasn’t even scared to give my speech. It was the anticipation that came beforehand. I loved the topic I was speaking on, so why was I so nervous? That’s when my ag teacher looked at me and said, “Remember the road barriers?” I immediately quieted my fears and decided that to be able to give my speech, I would have to face the anticipation that came with it. 

Sometimes in life, there is something we are working hard to reach, or a very exciting time in our lives that we can’t wait for. Along the way, you will experience your own road barriers, the scary parts, the nervousness and anticipation. In these times, it is important to understand that we can face those fears and thrive throughout the process, because road barriers are necessary for us to embrace our journey.