Achieving Goals

This I Believe

When was the last time you achieved a goal that you had set for yourself? Do you remember what it felt like? I believe that reaching goals that we have set for ourselves can be one of the best experiences in life. What makes achieving these goals even better is reaching them through adversity. The fact of the matter is that when you achieve a goal that you have set for yourself, be it large or small, the sense of accomplishment that it brings is unparalleled to any other feeling in the world.

All people have goals that they want to reach. Sometimes when you achieve something it affects how you look at things for the rest of your life. When I was 7 years old I was scared of heights. This fear was heightened every time my family took the annual trip to Cedar Point at the end of summer. Every year the park would build taller and faster rides, so every year I became increasingly scared of heights. However my dad was not scared of heights. When we got to Cedar Point when I was 7 my dad took me out into the park away from the other members of the family. He told me that we were going to go to the water rides. He lied. As soon as we got into the park he brought me into the line for the Magnum. Despite my constant protests which involved screaming and of course kicking him in the shins we made it to the front of the line. However it wasn’t enough for me to just go on the ride. I don’t know why he did it, it may have been revenge for the bruised shins, but he took me right to the front car. I hated him at this point. As we left the station I began to hyperventilate and when we reached the top of the first hill I almost passed out. Then came the first drop. You have to keep in mind that at this point the Magnum was the tallest ride in the world. After the first drop I got my first feeling of adrenaline rush. I was on top of the world. I loved everything about the ride from the drops to how fast it was going. I had always wanted to conquer my fear of heights; my dad just had to push me to do it. Now every year when I go to Cedar Point I go on every ride there and always take the front seat.

Reaching your goals can not only give you a sense of accomplishment unlike any other, but it can also bring untold amounts of confidence. My sophomore year in high school I played JV hockey. However I played on the 3rd line and never seemed to get a lot of ice time. I had wanted to play varsity hockey since I was a little kid but now even the varsity coach said it would be a long shot for me to make the varsity team my junior year. I was devastated and my confidence was completely gone. When tryouts came around for the 2007-2008 season I didn’t know if I would even play for the upcoming year. I decided to try out for 2 teams. One was the Grand Rapids Griffins travel team, which travels across the state and country for games, and the other was of course for the varsity team. The Griffins tryouts came in late April. At the beginning of the tryouts I was just hoping to get past the cut, and I never expected to make it to the final skate. However I did make it to the final skate and afterwards the coach told us that he would call the next day to tell us if we made the team or not. The next day I got home from school and waited. At 8:00 the phone rang. A voice on the other end said “We have an open spot on the team for you and would love for you to join.” I of course said yes and at that point decided not to even try out for varsity. It has now been over a year since that call and I now play for the Grand Rapids Owls. The Owls are a Midget AA travel team that is very similar to the Griffins. They are just at a much higher level of play earlier this year we played in a tournament and beat one of the best varsity teams in the state 4-0.

The way you feel when you achieve a goal that you have set for yourself is incredible. It can make you feel happy when you are sure that there is nothing the world that can bring you out of a current depression. It can help you regain your confidence in something you love. It can even help you to look at life in general in a better light. When you achieve a goal you are on top of the world and nothing can take that feeling away from you.