Rolling Hills

I’m sure we have all heard the famous phrase “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”  I agree with this phrase to a certain extent, but I like to view life as a journey of highs and lows.  We all have adventures in our life that are like a never-ending scene of rolling hills. 

This past June I realized what journeys are truly like in life.  We all have those moments where we are the center of attention, where we get everything we want, and where life is, well, just plain great.  As cliché as it may sound the last two months of high school were the best.  I went to the nation’s capital for the second time in my life, met the governor for my academic excellence, received several scholarships, was named valedictorian of my class, and was elected to serve the Iowa FFA Association.  After all these milestones had been reached in my life I felt a sense of pride… I felt good about myself.  It’s truly a hard feeling to describe, but I happily continued on with life. Although I felt on top of the world, my time on top of the hill was about to come to an end. 

The beginning of June rolled around and I was gone from my small hometown a lot doing what I loved.  I was traveling the state meeting new FFA members, learning their stories and sharing mine.  I loved it.  I got home after COLT, caught up on sleep, did my laundry, and asked some of my friends if they wanted to hang out that night.  Not a single one replied.  Some of my closest friends from high school had forgotten about me.  I’d see them in public and they’d ask why I was home.  My days got pretty boring back home.  My friends from high school plain and simple didn’t care about my accomplishments that had happened two months ago.  I lost a lot of relationships with my friends that I had poured my life into creating.

I was on top of the hill back in April and May It was the best time of my life. I woke up every morning with a smile on my face. That smile slowly faded away after I spent a quick few days in June rolling down the hill to the low point.  It was the best time of my life. I reached this low point in the middle of the month after I returned home from COLT week. It was hard for me to fall asleep at night and exert energy into hobbies I had cared about my whole life.  I felt like I was in the slump of all slumps.  After I climbed out of the low point I realized something: life is an emotional rollercoaster.  It’s like taking a journey among endless rolling hills. We have our highs and our lows.  It’s just as plain and simple as that.  There’s no guarantee as to how long your lows and highs will last.  When you are having a high point in life enjoy it, but don’t let your guard down.  I’m not saying you need to be cautious of entering that “low,” it’s bound to happen, it’s part of life.  Just make sure you’re prepared in case it does happen because I was definitely not prepared at all.

One thing I did was to try and equal my highs and lows out.  I did this by reflecting back on the experience that caused the low, looked at my present life, and then looked towards the future.  As my dad always said look at the future last, because you can’t see what’s ahead of you if you’re looking in the rear view mirror your whole life.

Caleb Finnegan

Southwest State Vice-President