“It’s not about how many times you fall, its whether or not you get up again.

I had always heard this during church, or in various inspirational movies. Everyone has heard
something along those lines at some point in their life. For me, I really learned it in on a school
trip to Costa Rica. In the summer after 9th grade, I went with my Mom, Mrs. Clark my science
teacher, and a few other students to the tropical country of Costa Rica. The first day we flew in
and took a bus to our hotel. I remember taking in the sights: howler monkeys making loud
hooting noises and tropical birds flying overhead. As I was strolling around, I slipped on the
sidewalk and crashed down, getting scrapes all over my hands and knees. Nevertheless, I didn’t
let it put a damper on my attitude.

The second day in Costa Rica my schedule was full. The tour group went to a hotel to go zip
lining in the jungle. We hiked up a large hill then zip lined from tree to tree. It was exhilarating as
the only thing between you and the jungle floor a hundred feet down, was the line. At least,
that’s what I thought before I fell.

When I was unhooking myself from the zip line, I jumped up and got the line off, but I didn’t
catch myself afterwards and fell. I landed right on the edge of the metal grate platform, with my
feet hanging off the edge. I was bruised and slightly terrified of falling to my death, yet I
continued the zip line course to the finish.

Later that day, my tour group went to a different hotel to go horseback riding. I had never ridden
a horse before, so I was nervous about going on a trail with one. Beforehand, the guides told us
the trail was fairly easy and smooth, but I found out that was not the case. The trail I rode was
steep and rocky. As an inexperienced rider, I was afraid that I was going to fall off my horse.
And that is exactly what happened. I remember falling in slow motion off the side of the horse. I
crashed to the ground and quickly my mother and the guides came to me. I was already banged
up from the earlier falls, but now I was especially beat up. All I wanted to do was to just walk the
rest of the trail, and never touch a horse again. However, all I could think about was how when
you fall off, you get back on.

So, I climbed back on and rode off into the sunset.