"Optimism" by State Secretary Emmerson Lyons
October Blog
What are some of your strengths and weaknesses? I always find myself being asked this question, and every time I rattle off “optimistic”, but I’ve never thought about the true meaning of the word. I’ve always thought of myself as an optimistic person until this past year, and especially these past several months. In Webster’s Dictionary, being optimistic is defined by: “of, relating to, or characterized by optimism: feeling or showing hope for the future”. I know for a fact that I haven’t been a true embodiment of this word throughout these past several months.
Let’s backtrack to March 13, 2020. I was in Alexandria at the Women in Agriculture Conference when a buzz of conversation began amongst the crowd that we would be going into a state-wide quarantine. At the time I didn’t mind it - two weeks off of school, I was ecstatic - but little did anyone know we would be entering into a new world of quarantining and social distancing. At the time FFA events were being postponed under the assumption that they would resume in-person...that clearly was not the reality of the case. Louisiana FFA and its state officers had to quickly adapt by converting many things to a virtual format, including state officer elections. Since being elected, my team knew we would have to adapt to hosting and participating in traditional events virtually; and I’m not going to lie, at first, I was so excited to serve this year and felt optimistic for what we could accomplish, not thinking that this pandemic would still be as big as it is right now, and slowly I began to lose hope. I began to lose hope and found myself not wanting to attend events because it was from behind a screen, and what was I going to get out of that? There were days that I didn’t want to get out of bed because just the thought of what my year of service looked like was so sad to even think about. I found myself sad, depressed, angry, and unsure of what the rest of this year would hold. It all felt so unreal. After a few weeks of talking to my advisors and family, I realized that while this is something I can be sad about, I need to acknowledge the many opportunities available to take advantage of. Slowly but surely I began to have little sparks of hope here and there, I began to get excited about participating in events from behind a screen. Little did I know that a global pandemic wasn’t the only thing I needed to worry with.
Then, Hurricane Laura hit, a category 4 hurricane that completely devastated a large amount of Southwest Louisiana. Things were finally starting to feel hopeful, but now everything is back to being put on hold. Events were being postponed and later canceled; again I started to feel like my old self, not wanting to even think about the rest of this year of service, wanting to give up because I saw no hope for the future. Again, I began to talk to my advisor about how I felt and they helped me come to the realization that clearly this year isn’t ideal and it isn’t normal, and I have every right to be upset about it, but being upset won’t change anything. If I wanted to make a change I had to get up and help, reach out to the community and support it. They made me realize that this year could be absolutely amazing, and we could make such an impact not only on Louisiana FFA but on the entire state.
Even though this year seems to be off to a rough start, I’ve just recently become more optimistic for the future, even though I have absolutely no idea what it holds seeing how 2020 seems to be full of surprises! It may have taken me a long time to realize that even though it’s not an ideal year, I still need to be optimistic and have trust in what’s in store for me. Louisiana FFA, this year is not normal, it’s not ideal, it’s not what we’re used to but we have to adapt to our current situations and have hope and trust that it will all settle itself out. Never stop being optimistic, because without optimism there’s no hope, and if there’s no hope, then how do expect ourselves to flourish this year? No matter who you are, if you’re a freshman or in junior high, make the most of it. If it’s your last year and you’re graduating, make the most of it. Take advantage of every single opportunity that arises because who knows, 2020 may just surprise us all.
