July 30, 2024
Soak Up the Good Stuff
I recently read an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Melody Rose called “Why You Should Still Want to Be a College President” (July 17, 2024). No, even if I could, I would not want to be a college president.
While the article was clearly focused on college presidents, you could have easily swapped in any position that had its share of both stress and rewards. Sound familiar? If you were to swap out “college president” for “extension professional,” the article and its tenets could have been written about us.
Our fair season offers no better example of stress. Dozens of project types and hundreds of projects have to be accepted and judged in a very short time frame. There are issues with someone’s project entry. A judge has just called in sick. A project was dropped and destroyed. Someone is disappointed with a ribbon. Some fair-goers express displeasure at the prices of the fair food and the carnival rides. The extension professional is, unfortunately, frequently a target for the over-stressed youth, parents, guardians, and mentors.
It is often easy to dwell on these sources of stress. I believe Ms. Rose, however, would suggest that you focus on soaking up the good stuff. For every project entry that went bad, dozens went well. For every judge that had to call off at the last minute, an agent in the neighboring local unit either knew of someone who could do it, or they themselves stepped in to judge for you. For every person upset with a ribbon, there are many more who are satisfied, surprised, or elated at their ribbon. For every complaint about the price of things from patrons, you see dozens more fair-goers smiling, laughing, and enjoying their time at the fair.
Don’t let the fair stressors override your perspective. Whether your fair is over, going on, or about to begin – soak up the good stuff.