Jacob Knaebel – VP

My feet are freezing. I can’t feel my hands. I am starving, tired, and all I want to do is go back to the cabin and sleep this opening morning of deer season. I know if I give up now my chances of getting a deer are slim, yet the complaints in my mind slowly win me over, and I decide to climb out of my deer stand. As I reach the bottom of the ladder, I turn around in time to see a buck lurking just in the edge of the woods dart across the field and out of sight. Now I’m cold, hungry, tired and mad I didn’t wait five more minutes.

Much like hunting, during our time in FFA we are going to set many goals for ourselves such as winning a CDE or getting a chapter office. However, sometimes we don’t realize the amount of work and endurance that will be required of us to achieve our goals, and we give up because it is the easier option. But if we don’t see the task of achieving our goals through to completion, then we will never be able to reap the benefits.

That day in the woods, I lost sight of what my goal was and only focused on the reasons why I should give up, and because of that I didn’t achieve my goal. This year we all need to remember to keep our end goal in sight and build up our mental endurance to overcome all obstacles that might hold us back.