Inspiration is the stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level in order to do or feel something extraordinary. To me, inspiration is what makes me push myself to my limit, it's what makes me ask myself, "If so many people are against all odds succeed, why can't I?" Why can't I push through? Why can't I be the best? The only person stopping me is me. So many people in this world inspire me such as my parents and my whole family in general. But there is somebody in specific that I look up to, someone who not only had to deal with some of the hardest times but someone who actually succeeded. A certain musical artist helps me get through some of the hardest times in my life. Times I though wouldn't be possible to get through, times in which giving up would have been the easy option. But no, this artist got me through, not because he's rich or because he's famous, but because he speaks the truth, the truth that most people turn their heads away from.

Before every wrestling match I listen to one of his songs, a song that really means something to me, a song that has value behind it. It gets me going, it doesn't make me angry or mad, but it instead makes me think, it makes me think why. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Why was I chosen tonight? Why am I here? He inspires me to finish what I started, finish my job. When my face is being pressed and rubbed into the mat, I remind myself all I've gone through to get this Varsity spot, all the crazy practices I had to go through to get this spot, and I especially remember the numerous dinners I had to skip in order to maintain my weight. Dinners that were prepared by my mother who I may even go as far as to say is the definite goddess of the kitchen. She would prepare beef that would melt in my mouth without any real effort of chewing, while her signature shrimp mimics a velvety texture. I load the ladle with vegetables as I dunk it into the pot for seconds. After a few moments, I am overwhelmed with the savory mounds of organic goodness. As I am enthralled by the luscious delicacies I am taken into a state of nirvana, I then take a moment to organize my thoughts as my brain is completely overloaded a plethora of sensory pleasure. I had to skip dinners as such almost everyday just to wrestle a maximum of six minutes, and I promise you I made sure those six minutes were worth it.

Even though I've only been wrestling for one year, I could easily say that it has changed my life. I felt things that I have never felt before. The feeling of having total control over the next six minutes of your life is exhilarating. Having the ability to push on even when your body and mind simply tell you that you can not continue is something that every wrestler requires. Being introduced to all of these types of techniques and abilities for the very first time is quite overwhelming. Not only was being on the wrestling team in general quite the accomplishment, but earning a starting varsity position is on a whole other level.

Only having about a month of wrestling experience, I finally had to endure a real match, and to my luck it was against our all time rival, Cliffside Park. And to be honest, I didn't quite believe in myself before the match. It was my first time not only having a legitimate referee and an actual crowd, but it was also my first high school wrestling match. Being the lightest weight class, I was the first match of the night. Everything about that night was new to me. It was the first time people actually had to pay to watch my performance, and it was also the first time I had to wear a singlet, a very strange uniform that made me feel a way have never felt before. After running out onto the mat, I looked my opponent straight in the eye and began wrestling.
I lost. And so did our team.

After loosing the next three matches something must've clicked. I knew what it felt like to win. The feeling that I got when people came up to me in school and congratulated me on my performance was amazing.

On January 26, 2013 I had my first "Quad" or a day when four teams all wrestling at the same time. This day will be one that I never forget.

My first match of the day was one that evoked no worries but even though I had won that match, we, as a team, lost. But my next match is against Bogota, a team that was undefeated to that day. Being the first wrestler last match, I am now the last wrestler this match. After all of my teammates wrestled, the score is now at 35-34, Bogota up by one. This meaning that if I lost, our team looses, but if I win, our team wins. I step up to my line, my opponent to his, we shook hands and the referee blows his terribly high pitched whistle. After being taken down twice by my opponent, the score is now 4-0. I begin to panic. It is now the last period of the match and I have no energy to do anything, I begin to give-up. And before I know it, I'm getting pinned and the other team is about to come out victorious. One shoulder on the mat while the other slowly begins to give way, I look up into the bleachers. "Dad, is that you?" I thought to myself. "My dad had made it; he had come to my wrestling match!" Both of my shoulders lifted off the mat, I got up, receiving 1 point for an escape. I took a shot at my opponent; he fell, hitting the mat with a thud. I quickly jump atop in an attempt to pin him. The referee slaps the mat marking Fort Lee as the winner. Everyone in the bleachers is yelling as they throw their arms in the air. My team rushes onto the mat and quickly grabs me; they throw me up into the air. I had done it, I had won. But why? Why had I won? I tell my teammates to put me down. "It is because of my father." I thought to myself. He was the cause of my victory. I looked up into the stands, my father wasn't there, I looked everywhere for him, he is nowhere to be found. I call his cell phone,
-"Dad, where are you, I just saw you,"
-"You saw me?!? I'm at work buddy. Why, what happened?"
-"Nothing, love you, talk to you later. Bye."

And that was the end of it. There was no dad in the stands, there was nobody there.