I want to talk about something that everyone wants to achieve in life, and that is success. Success is a word that everyone wants associated with them. To be able to hear people saying, "Oh yeah, she's been very successful in her field" or, "He's been a huge success since he's been in this program." But when it comes to being successful or achieving a goal, it's not as easy as it may seem. Along the path to your goal there are always obstacles that can get in your way or distract you from your final goal. This is the story of my most recent path and where it led me.
Over the weekend, I had the privilege of going to Hanging Rock State Park in Walnut Cove, N.C. with my friend from school and I had no idea of what I was about to do. There is a lake at the park and we had our minds set on swimming in the lake, but when we got there we decided to try something new! We decided that we were going to go canoeing. Neither one of us had ever done this before, so we were both nervous and were having thoughts like, "Oh gosh, what if we tip over?!" Once we got in the canoe and finally figured out which direction we needed to paddle, it was smooth sailing from there. We canoed for about 30 minutes then we decided it was time to find Hanging Rock.
We left the lake and went on to find the hiking trail for Hanging Rock. After riding around for about five minutes, we found a sign that read, "HANGING ROCK TRAIL- 1.3 MILES." I was in shock... I didn't anticipate on walking a total of 2.6 miles to see a landmark that all of my friends talk about. I sprained all of the ligaments in my left ankle in April and missed the rest of my spring season of volleyball so this was something I didn't think I was going to be able to do.... I've never really been one to do a lot of distance walking or hiking of any sort, so my friend and I knew that this was going to be a hard task for us to endure.
We begin to walk and at first we didn't think it was going to be too bad... until five minutes later when we stopped for our first water break and were already complaining about how tired we were. My friend and I continued to walk on the path, going up and down hills, turning curves, passing through trees and even going up stairs made by rocks that had simply fell into those places. In life there are always going to be obstacles that are going to prevent you from reaching your goal by either distracting you or by making you work harder. When it gets like that, you've got to keep going! We continued to hike up the mountain and when we got about .3 miles away from the top, we took one more quick water break as we saw people walking towards us. We had a feeling we were close so we put our water bottles back into our backpacks and pushed our ways to the top! A couple more turns and steep inclines up some rocks, we finally made it! We walk out of the trees and see the sun shining on us and we feel overwhelmed with a feeling of accomplishment. Being able to say that we climbed 1.3 miles up to the top of Hanging Rock was amazing! Any time you achieve a goal, you will feel so ecstatic once you're done! It was a beautiful sight to be up that high! 
The sense of accomplishment I felt on that day was amazing. Any time you are trying to achieve a goal to make you successful, there are going to be things that are going to get in your way as a distraction. If you really want to be successful, you can't let these things hold you back. Sometimes, you may be your own obstacle. The mindset you have when you begin your journey has to stay positive no matter how down you may get. If things aren't going right, you've got to remind yourself of the big picture and push on. My pathway to success led me to the top of a mountain; now where will yours lead you?
