CLIMBING MOUNTAINS

Most of us in our lives have a mountain to climb. At some point we ll be faced with something that will test our will. It might not be an actual mountain (to some it may be) but for us its something that looks impossible to overcome at first. Now if you don't have a mountain to climb, life is going to be kind of boring. That means theres nothing in your life to challenge you, and if that's the case how will your best YOU ever come out? When faced with a challenge we either rise to the occasion or fall on our faces. It gives us an opportunity to see what we're actually made of.

Whats your mountain? It might change on a daily basis. Your mountain today might be getting up and running five miles. It might be taking the first step to stop smoking or finally mailing in the college application to start taking steps toward your degree. Whatever the case may be its important to understand how crucial having that mountain in our lives is. This may sound strange to some (except for the people that know me) but I look for new mountains to climb all the time. Right now one of my mountains is playing guitar. Now that might not seem like a huge mountain to some, but if you take a guy who played trombone in middle school and no instrument since and then put a guitar in his hands you'll see what mountain climbing is all about.

I love challenges. I love standing at the base of the mountain, looking up at it and thinking, this is going to be tough. It's a special feeling when you accomplish something that you didn't even think was possible. And at that moment it doesn't matter if a thousand people saw you do it or if you're all alone, you climbed a mountain that you never thought you could, and that's one of the most gratifying feelings in the world.

We live in a society that loves its hero's. Every other movie that comes out in theaters has one, why not be your own. The definition of a hero is the following "a man/woman of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his/her brave deeds or noble qualities". I think the most important word in this definition is courage. That's what you need to climb a mountain. Courage gives you the will to want to face that challenge, no matter how big the mountain is.

"Sometimes in life its not about how you finish, or when you finish, sometimes its just about finishing!"

Failure is not defined by whether or not you reach the top of the mountain, failure is not trying to climb it at all.