86,400 Seconds
As the Convention doors came to a close for the final time this year, I was faced with an overwhelming bout of emotion. Knowing that my time in the blue corduroy was not yet over, these emotions came as a surprise to me. What was expected to be a joyful celebration of the year ahead of me turned into the most gut-wrenching feelings I couldn’t find the means to shake.
At the time, I passed it off for feelings that were so significant due to a lack of sleep and high levels of adrenaline throughout the previous week. However, it wasn’t until the following Monday when I returned back to school that I realized why these feelings were so prominent.
The emotions I was feeling – worry, doubt and hesitation – were all part of a bigger factor – time. Early on in my Missouri FFA State Officer journey, Ms. Briscoe, Missouri FFA Executive Secretary, offered me a stand out statement. She said, “You only get 86,400 seconds of every day. Are you going to choose to waste them?”
Missouri FFA members, we are living a life that offers us the opportunity to be faced with the battle of time. Emotions of worry, doubt and hesitation are only sustainable if you choose to waste your seconds. In the upcoming year, I encourage each of you to use your seconds to form new connections, learn a new skill and make a move so daring you can confidently say you didn’t waste a single second.