No Regrets

I have always been the kind of person that wanted to live my life with no regrets. I wanted to be the person that, when asked what my biggest regret was as I lay on my death bed, answered “nothing, I have no regrets! I lived my life the fullest of its extent, I loved endlessly, gave unselfishly, and served others the way God would have wanted me to!” The more I think about this idea of no regrets the more I come to the conclusion that, no matter how comforting of a thought that it is, It is highly unrealistic and unattainable! As humans, Gods greatest creation, we are bound and even promised that at some point in our life we will be faced with tough and sometimes even impossible decisions. So wouldn't it only be logical because of our nature as imperfect human beings that by the end of our lifetime, we are destined to have some sort of regret somewhere along our own rocky paths? What if we could live without those regrets, what if someone magically found the key that would help erase those regrets?! That would be awesome right! No regrets for anyone! A life free from the traps we as humans bind ourselves to! I don’t know about you but I know that someone has already found that key!

You see, i’m also a firm believer in the notion that all things happen for a reason and that there is no such thing as coincidence. I believe this so much so that I have it tattooed on my body ( right shoulder to be exact, its quite cute!). The thought of living with no regrets and that everything happens for a reason go quite good together realistically and logically! It all lies within the trust we place with our Heavenly Father. If we place undeniable, unshakable, unwavering trust with God then living a life with no regrets would be easy. However I would be lying if I told you that I have always been good at putting that much trust in God or that I am good at putting that much trust into God right now in my life! But as I live my life each day I realize more and more that God knows what he is doing and has a plan for each and everyone of us, perfectly tailored to guide us as individuals back to his presence! I’m grateful for the plan that he has designed for me and am extraordinarily grateful for the people he has placed within that plan! 

I promise you that God believes in you and knows each of the things you are going through each day, you do not face those difficult or impossible decisions alone, he is with you every step of the way! He leads you and guides you each and every second of every day! He will not let you make a mistake (simply because there are no mistakes)! His hands are upon you so do not be afraid of living your life to the fullest, loving endlessly, giving unselfishly, or serving others with all you have! I will not promise you that it will be easy or lack pain, nor did God promise that, but I know that it its worth it! It is my challenge to you to look at your own life and recognize those moments within each day that God is present! Find moments that you regret and ask yourself why you regret them! Put your trust in God and let him lead you the way he needs to! Believe that everything happens for a reason and I promise your life will change dramatically! Also know that I am with you in your journey too! I am constantly analyzing my life and trying to recognize the moments within each day that God is present! It has changed my life and I know that it will change yours! 

Be Grateful, Love Endlessly, Trust always, and Give selflessly! 

Until Next time, 

Jayden

I Care About You

When I was little I never dreamed that I would ever want to be a teacher or that I would ever start a journey that eventually would lead me into the classroom. Like I have said many times I decided that teaching was what I wanted to do when I got into high school. Once I really started examining career deciding what I wanted to do became an easy task for me simply because I love Agriculture, I love Agricultural Education, and I love The National FFA Organization so what a better career choice for me than to be an Agricultural Educator. 

However, I don’t believe there was a singular defining moment of when I officially decided to teach it was more of a collection of little moments that dictated this decision. One of which came my freshman year when I had the opportunity to attend the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis Indiana the theme for that year was “step up stand out”! I spent four days watching as FFA members and Ag teachers across the country stepped up and stood out within various areas of the agricultural industry. It was then that I realized that the National FFA Organization was huge and that Ag teachers were inspiring, impacting, and changing students’ lives all across the nation! Another reason why I chose to teach Ag was because of my own Ag teachers I often use the quote “Heroes are often the most ordinary of men” by Henry David Thoreau when describing my advisors. They truly changed my life. They opened the door of discovery to me, they gave me so many opportunities to succeed both then, now, and in the future; they set the example for me, and ultimately they gave me a goal to reach one day.

But the point of this blog isn't to tell you about the time I decided to teach or even the reason why I decided to teach. You see the porous of this blog is to reach out to my future students. I recently read an article ( see the link at the bottom) written by a teacher to his students. This article has inspired me to write a similar one. 

Often times while I was in high school and now in college I felt as if my teacher/ professor didn't care about my success; not saying that all of them were bad cause I had a few great teachers and still do! When I was in a class taught by a teacher/ professor that seemed like they didn't care I was often frustrated and gave up easily with the work I was asked to do! If they didn't care neither did I! When my senior year came I started making a list of all the things I wouldn't do as a future teacher, the list included things like making sure my students had the chance to take adequate notes, not setting them up to fail from the get go, and the most important one was to make sure my students knew that they were important to me and that I cared about them and their success. 

As I have started college and even while I was in high school I always made decisions based upon my future students, and today was no different. I received a phone call from a community member telling me about a job that they thought I would be interested in. I immediately met with him and started thinking about my future students and what this job would bring for them. Why you ask? Because I care about them. Everyday I find myself thinking about them and hoping that I will be the teacher that they need! I wonder what they will look like, act like, talk like, and even learn like. I wonder about whether they will be successful, what they will grow up to be like, and if I will be able to help them. I hope for their success, I pray for them in their struggles, and ultimately I think about their futures. It's crazy that even though I haven't met them I know that I am going to love them for the student and person they are and will be; I hope for them, pray for them, and think about them. I know that they will make me a better teacher and overall a better human! I know that I will learn from them more than they will probably ever learn from me! Even though I haven't yet set foot in my own classroom I appreciate my students and know that this is the career for me. 

I am grateful that God knows what he is doing and that he gives me opportunities to help my future students! I'm grateful for my future students and hope that one day they will know that I care about them! 

P.S. here is the link to the awesome article/ blog post I mentioned above!
choiceshttp://affectiveliving.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/what-students-really-need-to-hear/

"Oh so you wanna be an Ag Teacher, thats cool..."

I'm an extrovert, everyone (well most people) knows that about me, so being the extrovert I am I enjoy striking up conversations with random people. Every conversation starts the same; Me: "hey my name is Jayden nice to meet you!" Person: "Hey Jayden my name is... nice to meet you too!" further into the conversation... Person: "So where do you go to school?" Me: "Utah State University" Person: "What are you studying?" Me: "Agricultural Education" Person: (not very enthusiastic) "Oh cool..." and then the conversation continues from there. 

To many of you that would see like a pretty average conversation, but to me its anything but average! You see I hate it when these conversations happen... Maybe I'm taking things personal, maybe i'm reading to much into the less than thrilled oh cool that the other person gives me, or maybe that other person just doesn't understand what agricultural education is (this last one is usually the case) but to me that "oh cool..." makes me angry. Why? because it is as if that person doesn't care or thinks that being an ag teacher or even a teacher in general is the bottom of the job pool for society. Its as if being a teacher doesn't mean anything and that those who are teachers are just teachers because they can't take it in the real world... however the actually story is quite the opposite!! 

Ever since I could remember my family has been involved in some part of the agricultural industry. From the time I could sit up on my own I was on the top of a horse following behind my grandpa as we moved cows across Cedar Mountain in Emery County, Utah. When I was eight I started showing livestock at the local livestock show. Shortly after that my grandparents invested in a flock of breeding ewes and a ram so that all of the grand-kids could have stock-show lambs for all of our stock shows. Then there I was the first day of freshman year; nervous, scared, but very excited. I was so pumped to start high school and to finally be a full-fledged teenager. I had waited for this moment my whole life and couldn't believe it was finally here. Little did I know that my high school experience would be one big roller-coaster ride of failures, successes, disappointments, and victories; a roller-coaster ride that would lead me to the beginning of an incredible journey. The bell for first period rings, as I make my way to the Ag Building eager to start my first high school class, Animal Science. “Guys, Take a seat I’ll be with you all in just a second” a voice calls from the office in the back. That moment is where my life would start, in that smelly dusty Ag classroom with that booming voice yelling from the back office. Shortly after that I zipped up that blue corduroy jacket for the first time, and then I was completely hooked! 

Up till that moment in my life if someone were to have asked me what I wanted to be my answer would have been a pediatrician. Being an Agriculture teacher and FFA advisor was the furthest thing from my mind. I was dead set on making a ton of money and helping a ton of little kids, and I think my mom was dead set on it too! But something in me changed that year and I know it has everything to do with that voice hollering from the back office on the first day of my freshman year of high school. The voice belonged to my Ag teacher and FFA Advisor, Mr. Bob Gowans.

Now I know that  being an Ag teacher and FFA advisor is something most people would never aspire to be. It requires a ton of extra time, work, and energy. I know that in my high school career there were tons of instances where my own Ag teachers spent countless extra hours with me, for example the time Mrs. Shields drove 160 miles with me in order to pick up my show lambs. Or the countless hours both Mr. Gowans and Mrs. Shields spent talking me through all of life’s problems after school. Let’s not forget the four years worth of trips to National and State conventions, where I truly learned just how amazing Ag teacher are around the country, or the many summer Ag tours around Utah and the rest of the nation. All of this in order to give experience to me and the rest of their students.

I often use the quote “Heroes are often the most ordinary of men” by Henry David Thoreau when describing my advisors. They truly changed my life. They opened the door of discovery to me, they gave me so many opportunities to succeed both then, now, and in the future; they set the example for me, and ultimately they gave me a goal to reach one day. Yes, I know that I won’t find a cure for cancer, develop an alternative fuel source, or even develop a better strain of round- up ready corn. But yeah I'm an Agricultural Education student and guess what despite what society thinks i'm doing something worth more than all the money on the planet and better than any job you could give me; by me being an Ag teacher I am changing the world one student at a time and for that I’m truly happy to put in as many extra hours as I need especially if it means making each student a better person is some way! I'm doing what I love and loving what I do and to me, yeah, that is pretty freaking cool!!

Respect is Given not Earned!

I titled this blog post with that statement for a reason... I have heard tons of adults, teenagers, and even kids tell me, when ever I ask why they are so disrespectful, that their respect needs to be earned and that they don't just give people respect. However, contrary to society's beliefs I don't really think this statement is true by any means. I learned many things my first year of college but three of the most important things I learned I heard everyday for the first week and those three things are... 1. Treat others with respect even if you don't like that person, 2. Always say thank you to those you help you, and 3. Always ask yourself am I doing the right thing! Today I received two phone calls today both of which came from adults that I consider my heroes and both of whom I have an very high level of respect for...

The first call came in at about eleven a clock this morning, as I answered I was greeted with a shaky voice as if the person on the other end was holding back tears, the conversation went as follows: "hey were you and Austin (one of my best friends) out running around last night?" to which I replied "Umm no I was in bed by 8 and me and Austin haven't talked in a couple days, why whats wrong?"... before I go on let me give you a little bit of a back story this person had just recently (and by recently I mean less then a month ago) bought a new 2013 dodge ram truck... back to the conversation... "Well I have a few ewes that are lambing so I stayed the night at my dads house in order to watch them and while I was there someone egged and poured chocolate syrup all over our new truck and I was just making sure it wasn't you"... my first thought was "why would you think it was me!" and my second thought was "are you freaking kidding me, what is wrong with people!" The conversation lasted about ten more minutes and was filled with many more frustrations and venting.

Those phone calls are the reason why I bring up this subject tonight!! You see I'm sooo freaking sick of watching the people I love, admire, and respect get hurt and upset because people in today's society think that they need to treat people with hatred and disrespect in order to gain something! I'm sorry to say but you don't gain ANYTHING by treating others like this!

I have taught or preached rather to hundreds of high school students that every single person on this earth has infinite potential to achieve great things and to change the very foundation of this world! That every time you degrade, put down, or bully someone else it is not okay and that what you say and do sticks with that person for their entire lives!! Disrespect and hatred is more then just a harmless prank between friends or even a problem with one or two people, it has invaded every aspect of society today! It is more then an issue, it has become an EPIDEMIC!!! You see people are DYING because others don't understand what kindness, compassion, sympathy, grace, and empathy are anymore! Hatred and ignorance have become normal and I don't know about you but I cannot handle it any more!! I'm sick of  every time I read the news paper, get on facebook, or watch the news I hear about another teenager end their own life because of the actions of others!! I'm so sick of people turning their heads and pretending this isn't an issue! I don't know about you but I grew up in a home where respect was given freely and taught in every success and failure we had, and where service, kindness, and compassion were and still are apart of every aspect of our lives!

I was taught that my respect should be given to every single person I come in contact with and that regardless of how important how important I become I will never have the right to make someone else earn my trust!!

So no! No, I do not agree that your respect should be earned because respect is and should be given to every person you come in contact with!!

You and every other person have the potential to accomplish all your goals and dreams and to change the world today... but it's up to you whether or not you let both yourself and others accomplish this! You hold the key to a world of happiness and change, my question is this are you going to use that key you were given by GOD to help unlock and open the door to change??

I AM!

"Somebody Must Be Praying For Me"...

Wow I haven't wrote for a long time!! Don't worry i'll catch you up! Have you ever had one of those moments in life when everything just falls into place and things couldn't be more perfect? I don't know about you but whenever I drive I get these epiphanies if you could call them that... Just simple thoughts that blow me away and truely make me aware of everything around me. So as I was driving around the other night I realized just how perfect my life is going right now and how lucky I am! I couldn't help but feel such a huge amount of gratitude. Most people would go with the common saying of "I must be doing something right" but I had a different thought all together... "somebody must be praying for me" because I know that I couldn't have done any of this without God and without some prayers on my behalf. I've been selected to represent Utah as the National FFA Officer Candidate at this years National Convention, i'm serving Utah State University College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences as the 2013-2014 Student advocate, I have an amazing summer internship with the Tooele Agriculture Program and FFA Chapter, I have an amazing group of friends, and an amazing family! So to whoever is praying for me thank you, grandpa thank you for always watching out for me up there, and God thanks for answering the many prayers on my behalf! I'm one lucky girl!!

Jay

Change...

Change is such a funny, scary, weird thing to me... I hate change more than anything on this earth, it terrifies me. The thought of my whole world as I know it being torn apart by one moment or one action is soo scary to me. One of the scariest changes of my life was college... It might have been the simple fact that my best friend (the person I had spent almost every moment of high school with) was moving to the other end of the state and wouldn't be there every day, or maybe it was the whole leaving behind my family, or perhaps that fact that I just didn't want to grow up... regardless of what it was I was terrified... I cried for a week straight every time I would get in my car or be alone by myself I would sob... I'll never forget the ride to school, it was the longest, scariest, most emotional drive of my life...  One set of parents in the car in front of me and the other in the car behind me... I cried almost the whole drive I was terrified! The point of this post though isn't to preach about the fact that change is my worst enemy... the point is to tell you just how funny and ironic I think change is.

About three weeks ago I was called in for a job interview as many of you know I live in Logan, Utah but the job interview was in Midvale, Utah about 2 hours away. So knowing how good I am with directions gave myself two and a half hours just in case I got lost. Well I was right I did get lost (this is where the whole irony of change comes in) so in normal Jayden fashion I loose it!!! I'm talking larger than life, high school, cry and punch the steering wheel meltdown. For those of you who don't know me well in high school I was known for having larger than life meltdowns at least once every two weeks luckily I had two very amazing advisors who quickly learned what to say when one of these occurred.... Now back to my story/meltdown. Right in the middle of my lost meltdown I realize just how much hasn't changed. There I was lost, stressed, and crying in the parking lot of some fast food restaurant as on lookers gawk and stare at the freak show taking place right in front of them, having an epiphany about change.

No matter how much a person thinks they have changed they have to realize that some things just never change. Don't get me wrong I firmely belive if you don't like something they yes you can change it but sometimes even for a split second that thing you thought you changed can come back. I hadn't had a meltdown like that in months then out of nowhere over something little the meltdown was back in full fledged attack! Of course I couldn't help but laugh at how ironic it was and how long it had taken me to learn that not every aspect of my life had changed. It was a little comforting to know that no matter how many things in my life had changed there would always be things that didn't.

Just remember that no matter how scary change can be, not everything will change. If you're anything like me you will grab a hold of the non change and never let it go. My challenge to you and to me is to embrace the change but don't let the change completely change who you are and the things that matter to you!

Jay

How much it means...

It's really funny how much one thing can mean to a person. It could be an inanimate object such as a blanket, and animate object like a dog, or not even an object at all but rather an organization. For those of you who didn't know, this week is National FFA Week. This is a week when FFA members and advisors all across the country celebrate this amazing organization with various activities at their schools. For instance some activities we did when I was an officer is our annual donut eating contest one day during lunch, wearing official dress to school on Friday, or my personal favorite getting up at four in the morning to cook the faculty and staff of my high school breakfast one day. No matter what activities we were doing we always had a blast. Now that I am out of high school and no longer get to do all those fun activities with my home chapter I have found myself looking back and recalling some of my favorite times, and I realized yet again what difference FFA has made in my life. Being a high school student is hard without any added trials. I was a freshman in high school as well as a kid smack dab in the middle of a messy divorce. I lived in a semi-small town and as you can guess the divorce my parents were going through was a public ordeal. I lost a place to keep my SAE project (sheep) and my horse. I was so angry at my now ex-stepfather and at the world. The only place I felt that I could escape all of it was my advisors classrooms. When the bell to dismiss us from school at the end of each day rang I would bolt to the Ag classroom and find any excuse to not go home that I could; I dreaded going home. Going home meant that I had to comfort my crying mother, deal with the anger issues that my brothers and I had, and pick up the pieces that the divorce left scattered on the floor of our messy house. I was fourteen years old and dealing with demons that no kid at that age should have to deal with, but despite it all FFA and my advisors Bob Gowans and Jannette Shields stepped up and became my stability, my heroes, and my second set of parents. Don’t get me wrong my parents truly did all they could to help me and give me opportunities, one of which was supporting my FFA involvement no matter how expensive it was, but they also had to juggle work and emotional clean up. My advisors took me under their wing, they let me keep my sheep at their house, they would drive me 150 miles to get my sheep each year, they spent countless hours talking to me and helping me through my emotional issues, but most importantly they showed me that no matter what happens in life there will always be people around you to support you and lift you up. FFA took a young girl with a somewhat rough family life and gave her a safe haven, a passion, and a goal in life.There are tons of memories I have that involve me learning a life lesson but no matter how many I share I know you nor anyone else will realize just how much FFA does mean to me and to other people.

I want to end with this quote by Alicia Hodnik the 2011-2012 National FFA Central Region Vice President "FFA is the place where young travelers hop on a plane for the first time, iron their first pair of dress slacks, learn how to tie their first tie, make their first friend outside of their home town, and wear their first jacket that unites them with thousands, yet allows them to stand unique. It is a place where our closest friends can be our classmates as well as our agriculture teachers. A place where people believe in what we can do because our passion is our drive. FFA grows people and strengthens agriculture. It is a place where leaders have a hunger to better themselves, not for personal gain, but for the common-good of their fellow man. It is a place where humility is practiced and thought is provoked. It's a place where the tradition of blue corduroy and high morals have never gone out of style. Here’s to 85 years – Happy National FFA Week! Forever blue.”

I could not speak a truer statement then the that... Happy FFA Week Everyone!!
Jay