Somewhere about four or five months ago, my teammate,
Hailey, and I were sitting at the Enrichment Center during State Proficiency
Judging enjoying our coffee and waiting for results to come in. As a way to pass the time, we decided to join
the popular trend amongst students and get some stickers to put on the outside of
our laptop. We probably spent more time
on this than we should have and may have been overly excited for a couple small
pieces of paper with adhesive on the back.
However, I’m still reminded of the many laughs shared every time I close
my laptop and see my Green Bay Packers, South African flag, and owl stickers on
the front cover. As I closed my laptop
last night, frustrated about writing this blog, one of the other stickers stuck
out to me. It says “Know your worth.” Three simple words that really struck a chord
with me the first time I saw the sticker, and did again last night.
This past
week, my fellow Iowa FFA officers and I made the trip to Ashland, Nebraska,
where we worked on team development and really diving into what we wanted to
accomplish this year as officers for the state association. It was an incredibly invigorating, yet
humbling week as I watched my teammates grow so much over the course of just a
few days. As we grew closer, it became
even more evident that each of my teammates plays a crucial role in the success
of the team. They each have such unique
personalities and traits, but yet work so incredibly well together. As energized as I was throughout the week, I sometimes
found myself thinking about what I had to offer to the team. My teammates covered pretty much every
spectrum of qualities that’s out there that I wasn’t quite sure if I exhibited
anything different. Through conversations
with each of my teammates this week, they have made me realize that I do have worth
in our team. Even though my role may be
being the “mom” of the group and simply sharing knowledge and giving advice, I have
something to offer.
Being on any sort of team can cause
us to wonder where our strengths come into play. It can get overwhelming as we think about
whether or not we are contributing to the team as much as we think we should
be. But if there’s one thing I learned
through my year serving as the Northeast State Vice President, it was that in
order to be valuable to a team, we must first know how valuable we are. Knowing your worth and the special
combination of traits and qualities that you bring to your team is the first
step in being the best teammate you can be.
It’s easy to see how incredible our teammates are, but it’s also okay to
be a little selfish and know that you are just as rockin’ as they are.
With only about half of summer
left, we’ll all be back in school before we know it and a multitude of teams
will join back together. Whether it’s
our chapter officer team, our football team, or even a group of friends
planning an event for church, see the value you have and share that every
day. No matter how big or how diverse
the group is, you bring a special mix of characteristics and strengths that no
one else does and makes you incredibly valuable to the those you are serving
with. Even if you don’t have a daily
reminder like one on the front of your laptop, always take time to see your
value and know your worth.
Elisa Russ
Iowa FFA State President
