Junior Perspective
Giving it Your All
- Even Through
By Randa Taylor, NALJA president
Throughout life you are going to succeed, and
you are going to fail. That is a guarantee. And
specifically, the hardest part about failing is
when you know you have given it your all, but
still did not win. The long days, tiring nights,
early mornings - feeling like all of it was a waste
because that first-place ribbon was not placed
into your hand. But you see, if we give our all
why can’t that be enough? To live a happy and
fulfilling life, that needs to be enough. If you give
it your all, 100% effort, you should be thrilled with
the outcome. Why? Because you did everything
possible and you did your best with grace and
dignity. Beware however, once you begin to pick
this momentum, once you begin to enjoy your
accomplishments, there is going to be people
who tell you that you can’t, that you did not
deserve it, and they will try to tear you down in
any way. But we should never be ashamed of
our accomplishments or our defeats if we know
we gave it our all and was respectful to all.
As we go into junior nationals this year, I
encourage all of you to give it all you got. Leave
104 | JUNE/JULY 2019
the Failures
no regrets behind, step out of that comfort
zone, be competitive; but do it with respect,
dignity, and grace. Try your best, give it your all
and then accept the results, win or lose. If we
march through life expecting to always win, we
will never be pleased. I encourage you to try
something new this year, something unfamiliar;
don’t give up on yourself, and push yourself
to be the best “YOU” possible, win or lose.
This being my last article as your NALJA president,
I would like to give one more “thanks” to each
and every one of you. Thank you to my personal
family, my Texas Limousin family and my Limousin
family across the states. Each and every one of
you juniors has a special place in my heart, and
parents thank you for sharing your children with
me. This past year has been a dream come true for
this small-town Texas girl from a small operation
with a small budget. Never underestimate
yourself - whether you are someone who comes
from a ranch with 15 cows or 500, know that
you can make a difference, I hope I did. LT