Enjoy the Journey

“It’s not about the destination; it’s about the journey.” This quote has been said to me over and over throughout my life, but this weekend it set in. My family shows livestock: sheep, goats, and swine. My two little sisters, my mom, and I spent this weekend showing at the Indiana Stock Show in Cloverdale, IN. My family is never the one taking home the grand champion banner or the huge cash prize, but we still love it. Why? We love showing livestock because we learn from it, and more importantly, we get to do it together.

Pretty much every time we show, we end up in the last hole; however, we don’t count the weekend as a loss because we still had tons of fun doing it! The lessons we learn from our experience showing livestock far outweigh the banners we have won. We have learned some of the hard truths of life—that hard work doesn’t always mean you’ll win, money can sometimes determine a lot, and someone will most likely always be a little bit better than you. But even with these difficult lessons we’ve had to learn, we have gained valuable lessons in teamwork, cooperation, time management, teaching ourselves, and that our sisters will truly be our best friends for life.

When things don’t go your way, I encourage you to reflect on how you got there and remember it’s not the destination that matters the most; it’s the journey.

-Kaitlyn Maruszewski

2024-2025 DV Vice President

Let’s chat! insta- @kaitlyn_maruszewski