Shelby McCamey with her barrel racing gelding “Cuz Im French” (Frenchie) in Aubrey, Texas.
“The color yellow is much more than just a color to me. It’s the meaning behind it. When you think of the color yellow some may think of sunflowers, mustard, or if you rodeo even the superstition of bad luck.
The Bible tells us in Matthew 17:20 if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains.
When I rodeo in yellow it’s more than just trying to defy the odds or destroy the superstition about bad luck inside the arena. For starters when you have the faith of a mustard seed you learn through your relationship with Christ there is no such thing as luck. I don’t believe in luck, I believe in blessings. God has already created our paths so no amount of worry, fear, or superstition is going to change that.
The reason I started wearing yellow is in memory of my dad, which committed suicide, and what light I want to shed over the trial in my life to help others not make the same decision my dad did. “My mission is to inspire those affected by depression and suicide that they may have a life and a purpose by being a LIVING example.” Superstition says when you wear yellow in the arena you feel like all odds are against you; you’re going to hit a barrel, you’re going to miss your calf, you’re not going to make 8, etc.
Well if you have ever experienced depression or had suicidal thoughts you feel the same way but instead of just the rodeo arena, it’s the world and everyone in it.
Yellow just so happens to be one of the colors for depression and suicide awareness.
In 2014 God told me, one day, he would give me a platform through rodeo to help bring light to such a terrible thing. I say “thing” because I don’t want to title it. It doesn’t deserve a title. I feel depression and suicide are so “hush, hush” in today’s society but specifically in the rodeo industry. Sometimes someone cannot just “Cowboy Up” or “put on their big girl panties.”
Follow along with @shelbymccamey at @yellowfeltsoul and on Facebook at Yellow Felt Soul.
