The world moves in slow motion as my white rifle slips from my hand and clatters to the floor with an ear-splitting cracking sound. Learning the basics of spinning a rifle as a freshman was probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever accomplished, but I learned to push through by following a saying we have in color guard:

“If you can do two, you can do ten.”

Meaning, if I can do one, then two spins, I can keep pushing to ten. Similarly, high school is all about pushing past troubles, and learning how to knock them out once, then twice, makes it easy to get through any number of problems.

Freshman year was composed of one big obstacle: adjusting to change. There was more homework than before and new activities to take up my limited free time. Each day was a new challenge to push through, but after a week, then two, I knew I could make it. I procrastinated less and surrounded myself with fewer distractions so I could finish my work with time to spare for activities and relaxation. Before long, I was a sophomore.

That year, I joined Torch. After submitting my first article, I was hit by an explosion of over 120 suggestions for revision without any idea of how to begin making the seemingly infinite changes. Once I started, however, I was able to make changes for one, then two, then ten comments. Eventually, I got through the whole article and turned in a much-improved final draft. After I finished my first issue, I knew any other story would be a breeze.

Junior year was all about testing. The ACT and SAT loomed over me, obstacles blocking my path toward college. How many times would I have to spend my Saturday mornings at school taking the same tests? But every time I finally willed myself to start reading and bubbling answers, I was able to get through one, then two, then all of the sections. For me, standardized tests are more of an exercise in stamina than in brain power. Once I made it through one, then two, I knew I could keep going to get the score I desired.

Now it’s senior year. I got through all of my college applications by pushing through the endless sea of essays, and I pushed through the senioritis epidemic, one step at a time. High school might be over, but I won’t stop pushing. College is going to be an entirely new set of obstacles.

One, then two, then ten.