Over my many years I have had many struggles, however, the most difficult struggle was the time I had my first black belt test. This test wasn’t only a test of strength, dexterity, and endurance, but this test also encompassed six years of learning that I had done in preparation for this great test. The trail was a long one covered with many test along the way. It was as if I were climbing a mountain; the longer and further I climbed the harder it became to climb. As a new student there I got into many precarious situations; which in a place driven by discipline I stood out in a very negative way. Perseverance carried me through the tough beginning carried me through the trials, but even with this preparation nothing could have prepared me for the horrors that awaited me at the top of this mountain a beast so brutal and so devastating it had broken the strongest and hardest of men.

                Many men and women had walked this road before, all having their own adventure; and though the goal was all the same everyone’s road was obscured and different. My road was harder than many road s that had before been traveled. I didn’t seek aid from anyone, no favoritism would be found along my cold road. With inspiration found in my family; the only driving force was my un-ending desire and hunger for the prize. This road less traveled didn’t come without a price, and though I was “the best” through my hard work I became hardened to my peers. Through my own mistakes, my closest friends became my rival reaching the prize before me; a test failed was time lost, but in a lose I find strength, pride, and experience. To taste failure and know it’s cold grasp as it drug me down deep into a fowl dark place, but at last I freed myself from it’s never ending torment and returned to the game blowing by my few remaining tests with ease and skill.

                I was close now, only one year off from the greatness the resided at the peak of this mountain. I dug deep within myself and pushed harder then every before. I was ready, and I counted on no one; refused the help of my friends, learned through the teacher and perfected it on my own. Cleaning up my previous knowledge I honed in my skills. I felt great as the weeks past coming closer and closer to the prize I was like a mad man chasing his dream, but finally alone; a thinning pack left me alone near the top of the mountain a place I’ve seem to find myself many a time since, but with no matter alone or with a hundred men the task shall be completed. No barrier, no person, no monster; nothing would stand in my way whether you’d be friend or foe, enemy or family your worth to me was nothing if you were in my way.