Being enrolled into elementary school marked the day that the first brick on my pathway would be cemented to the ground never to be removed again. This marked just the beginning of my thirteen years of paperwork to prove my work ethic and intelligence to my peers and colleagues.  However, working and worrying about other matters during these years seemed to occupy my workspace. I didn’t always care for grades and the ever so critical GPA that determines everything. Even though my grades aren’t the best of the century, I know I’m not a quitter.

     Just a few months ago in the summer of 2014, I remember a challenging task that I didn’t think would teach me such a great life lesson. Being with my friends in Colorado, visiting our friend that recently moved there for his dads work. Like any other person from Texas, seeing a mountain can be breathtaking. Being in the youth age, I immediately wanted to reach the peak of a mountain once we settled into my friend’s home. Once we arrived to a mountain suitable for us to climb, looking at it from the basin truly made me feel meaningless to the scale of the Mountain, the Earth, and the Cosmos.  Already, the altitude in Colorado knocks the breath out of me within just a few steps. Continually climbing upwards using my hands and feet for over four hours was one of the most difficult things I could have ever imagined. Although looking back now, the challenge improved me.

Halfway up the mountain, once we found a clear spot for a beautiful scenery spot just seeing the size of our car at the bottom was jaw dropping.  I wanted to keep going up the mountain to reach the peak and view a full panorama of the world around me. Things just got more challenging though, I kept wanting to turn around and travel down the mountain, but my friends kept continuing forward, so I couldn’t turn back now.  We finally hit the steepest part of the mountain with rocks attached to breakable soil. I remember grabbing a rock to pull myself up, and when I was halfway up the rock it broke away from the surface which caused me to fall and slide into a tree. That fall made me realize I’m not immortal, and one wrong slip and my gravestone will be calling my name short noticed. I immediately stood up and marched onwards. Nearing the peak of the mountain was the most memorable thing I could ever experience, the clouds were just a few hundred feet above us, and we could see over the mountains across the valley leading to even more massive peaks covered with snow during the summer. Seeing Highway 70 with the ant line never stopping or ending, that is when I truly felt like a spec in this universe.

Now I know this story wasn’t anything special, however it showed me that no matter how steep the road ahead of me gets, and what challenges come before me, I know that I can keep climbing no matter what. As long as I have the motivation to keep going, nothing is going to get in my way. The peak of the mountain symbolizes a milestone in the things I would like to achieve in life; I want to leave my footprint everywhere. I was put on this planet for a reason, and I intend to find out why.