by Tar Tut, NJHA Director

When a year comes to a close, we are often filled with a level of excitement that only seems to arise at this time of year. Excitement for a brand-new chapter, new friendships, new ideas, a clean slate and a fresh start.

This past year has been one of my favorite years to date. Even though the world was at a standstill, I made it a goal of mine to make the most of every day and every opportunity given to me because we are not always promised tomorrow.

As I reflect on the past year, I am fortunate enough to have been on the Juco Livestock Judging Team Co-Team of the year with 13 of my now closest friends and an outstanding coach. The Team of the Year award is given to a team that showed excellence in the field of livestock judging at the four national contests. While I am thankful for the opportunity to have been on the team, I will forever be grateful for the friendships cultivated along the way, the relationships formed and the people I had the chance to meet.

Most of all though, I am thankful for family. Family that always has your back, family that makes you feel loved and family that will always be in your corner, supporting you in all of your future life decisions and plans ahead. Take the time yourself, to absorb all of those huge victories, minor disappointments and be thankful for the family support system behind you.

A quote by Charlie Chaplin often comes to mind in these situations, “We think too much and feel too little.”

We think too much about what could lie ahead, often forgetting to absorb those good and bad moments that made us who we are today. These are opportunities and lessons to reflect on, so we know what to do and what not to do, to achieve success for the future.

Every experience, every moment we face is a lesson and a lesson will keep presenting itself to you until you commit and finally take a stab at it. This summer when I made the commitment to run for the National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) Board of Directors, that was my stab. Whether I was to be elected to serve on the board or not, I knew that this journey would be a life lesson and one that I would never forget.

My time on the NJHA Board of Directors so far has been nothing short of amazing. Being on a TEAM of young adults devoted to making the best better, makes me that much more thankful for taking that stab, running for the board and being a leader for the next generation of Hereford breeders.

Get out, embrace the new slate of this coming new year, step out of your comfort zones and take a HUGE stab at life. I promise in the end, you will be thankful for it all.

I will leave you with this motto for life; have PROUD days, not Perfect days.