Juniors
Your Windshield is Bigger than your Rearview
By Brooke Falk, NALJA board of directors
It was a journey for me to become a member of the NALJA board of directors. I first ran in 2015, fresh out of high school I was ready to face new challenges and opportunities. Sadly, that year serving as a board member just was not meant to be. I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed. A week later my family’ s world was turned upside down. My mom was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer. Although this cancer is treatable, it is a very rigorous and difficult treatment. I spent my first year of college taking her to appointments and doing my homework in the waiting area. Even after she was pronounced cancer free, she continued to have issues due to the radiations side effects. She was just starting to get back to“ normal” around junior nationals in 2016. With everything that my family had been through I felt it was time to do something“ normal” again and I decided not to run for the board that year. However, in 2017, my dream came true when I finally made the NALJA board.
Upon arriving home from Grand Island, I received a call. Little did I know that that call would change the way I lived my life. The call was from a familiar face among Kansas Limousin breeders, Chris Campbell. He did not have much to say, but he gave me this advice;“ remember that your windshield is a lot bigger than your rearview mirror.”
When I began to consider this quote, I instantly associated it with what had happened in the last two years to me and my family. I knew I needed to look ahead, through my“ windshield,” and focus on being a great board member. I also needed to look back and see where I had grown from the trials in my life, that were now in my“ rearview mirror,” but not get caught up in the negative and feel sorry for myself because spending too much time staring at your“ rearview mirror” will cause you to crash. Life moves forward, not backward, and getting caught up in the past will cause you to miss out on what is happening right in front of you. I could easily fall into this bad habit, and there are still days I do. There are days I have trouble seeing past the frustrations and trials in my life, like dealing with my mother’ s continued health issues or the frustration of ending my junior show career having never done as well as I had hoped at junior nationals. However, living by this quote, I have learned to move forward and not dwell on the past. Learning from the past is a huge part of life, but dwelling in it will ruin it.
Limousin juniors take Chris Campbell’ s advice,“ remember your windshield is a lot bigger than your rearview mirror.” Look forward, you all have a bright future ahead of you, whether that is taking home a banner at you next show, getting onto the team you tried out for, or even further down the line when you get your dream job. Do not let hardships and mistakes you see in your“ rearview mirror” hold you back, learn and grow from what you see so you can achieve what is ahead through your“ windshield.”
Thank you, Chris, your advice and humor over the years has been greatly appreciated! I
NALJA Board of Directors
President: Randa Taylor, TX
RandaTaylor99 @ yahoo. com 817-504-6927
Vice President: Dominic Ruppert, IL Ruppert _ 97 @ hotmail. com 217-254-2558
Secretary: Hannah Ziegler, OH HannahFarmsLLC @ hotmail. com 419-618-2441
Treasurer: Lindsey Gulotta, LA
LiveOakCattle @ gmail. com 985-351-7674
Ex-Officio: Ethan Freund, CO
Ethan _ Freund @ yahoo. com 303-502-4605
Director: Aaron Linhart, IA
15ALinhart @ gmail. com 641-414-5060
Director: Callie Hicks, KY
Callie. Hicks @ uky. edu 859-699-3893
Director: Brooke Falk, KS brianfal @ msn. com 785-817-2214
Director: Zane Gavette, WA zgcattle15 @ gmail. com 360-389-7105
Director: Tristan Gulotta, LA gulottatristan @ gmail. com 985-351-7643
Director: Colt Schrader, OK coltas @ okstate. edu 918-704-2397
Staff Advisor: Katie Campbell Katie @ NALF. org
913-683-1415
28 | OCTOBER 2018