Just Keep Skiing

Summertime is full of fun, to say the least. For me, it was the time spent at the lake that made my summers. I enjoy every part of the warm days at my grandparents' lakehouse, whether that means swimming, kayaking, fishing, tubing, skiing or just going for a plain old pontoon ride. 

I really only wanted to swim when I was younger, but then I overcame my fear of the big tall raft. I enjoyed playing on the raft and then eventually got over being scared of going tubing behind the speedboat. At this point, I basically had done everything I felt I needed to on the water. It turns out I still hadn’t gotten the hang of waterskiing. Now I had attempted on several occasions to get up skiing but never had accomplished it, I failed again and again and again. I finally, after numerous tries, succeeded and got up skiing. I had achieved the goal and overcame the challenge, but I didn’t really like skiing. So I decided that since I had done it a couple of times I could say that I could ski and go back to swimming and tubing. Of course, as my parents usually do, my parents made me get back out there and ski. I remember telling my mom that I didn’t even like skiing and that it was no fun at all, and wondering why I couldn't stick with nearly flying a tube 5 feet in the air as the main thing I did on the lake. My mom responded, “If you keep at it you’ll probably end up liking skiing more than tubing”. Let’s just say that moms are always right and after much perseverance and improving my skills, I now enjoy skiing more, but not by much.

I say this all to make the point that sometimes we will try things in life that we don’t like and oftentimes we fall into the trap of saying to ourselves “Well I tried it but I didn’t like so I don’t need to do it anymore”, even when if we just give it another shot or keep at it there is a chance that we could really enjoy it. As the seasons change and summer closes, keep an open mind when it comes to new things, whether that be a school club, sport, or FFA contest, because even if you don’t enjoy it at first, it may be like water skiing for me, and you may end up liking it.

Just keep Skiing,

Ethan Wolheter

Indiana FFA State President