Those who went to the 99th National FFA Convention enjoyed the week, had amazing opportunities to represent Kansas FFA, and many of us had a long drive back home. On the drive, I’m sure we are eager to get home, jump into bed, and relax after a fun but long week. For me, it’s easy to focus on getting to the destination; often, it’s pure excitement about arriving. While the destination is important, the journey is almost always the best part. Be sure to stop, look out the window, but most importantly, interact with those on the journey with you!
I think the lesson of the trip is almost always better than the destination and can apply to our lives, too. In FFA, it’s easy to set long-term, lofty goals for ourselves and get so wrapped up in chasing that destination that we take the journey for granted. Whether it’s wanting to win a state contest, be a proficiency finalist, or even earn your state degree, it’s easy to focus so much on the end result that we lose sight of the growth we experience.
For those who didn’t go to the 99th National FFA Convention, I want to share words from the 2025-2026 National Secretary, Lilly Nyland, who shared the idea of “living a life with purpose, on purpose.” This idea of living with purpose gives us a goal and an objective to work toward, but are we really living it on purpose? This is something that I personally struggle with: am I living my life on purpose, or am I just going through the motions to achieve my goals?
The best way I’ve come to live in the moment is to journal and write about each day. On our life journeys, it’s important to have a “roadmap” of where we are going and where we have been, and journaling is a great resource. So my question to you all is: How will you focus on the journey? What will you do to live a “life with purpose, on purpose”?
