The Orange Belt journey for me was an amazing process, that only after grading am I truly appreciating. Arakan has positively influenced my life in many ways and i have felt through the grading process those life changes accelerate as I was pushed through my comfort zone again and again forming new and more powerful habits.

I failed my first orange belt attempt and since then It has taught me to let go of what you think you are capable of and instead be present with yourself and the pain and use it to fuel the fire.

At one point I found myself resisting to push forward and to grow and settling for the easy path and I can still hear my instructor Nathans voice saying "you've got to be hungry for it, I know you can do it, you know you can do it so let's go!". Many sweaty hours of sprints and conditioning amongst the grading preparation and now I look back and can see it was all for a reason. I learnt many great lessons through rob and my instructors and one that I think of every time I'm warming up is that the purpose of achieving your goal is so that you can set yourself a new one and continue building your threshold. Once you achieve your goal that is the new minimum not the new maximum.

A big thank you to my instructors for helping me to achieve my orange belt and to my fellow orange belt students who graded with me, you guys are my inspiration.