Metaphor

It's a beautiful day. The sun is out. There are a few cotton candy clouds scattered across the sky. It's warm. Not humid. The sand is soft and the beach is wide. You lay on your towel. The sun feels good on your skin but you're not sweating. After a long time of shuffling through songs on your iPod you get  a sudden urge to jump in the ocean. You know the water must be icy cold but the thought seems refreshing. You turn off your iPod and put it away. You take a drink of water and take off your sunglasses. It's only you, 10 yards of clean sand, and then blue. Forever clear, bright, blue. You walk with confidence up to the edge of the water. There's not a doubt in your mind that you're going for it. But when your toes touch the first few drops of cold, you're suddenly not so sure you want to do this. You think of how cold your body will feel. That stinging sensation that your toes are already experiencing would envelope you from head to toe. The courage and confidence that you previously felt turns into doubt. So you stand in the water. Two inches deep. Your whole ankle isn't even submerged. And you look out. There's ocean as far as you can see. And blue sky above. And a bright shining sun. You stand there and you look. The world is beautiful from that spot and your feet are turning numb. And then you remember the courage you had laying on your towel. And you decide to go for it. You smile to yourself and start to laugh as you walk into the water. Ankle deep. Shin deep. Knee deep. Thigh deep. Your legs have goose bumps. It's cold. And you know it's going to get colder. You wait for the perfect wave and then you dive under. Head first into the freezing, salty water. Once you're submerged you're positive that your body is going to freeze. The blood running through your veins will freeze solid and you won't resurface. It feels like you're under water for 5 minutes even though you somehow know it's only been 5 seconds. You jump out of the water and take a deep breath. At first the air feels chilly on your skin. And suddenly a calm, warm sensation waves over you. The part of  your body that's out of the water feels cool, but comfortable. And the part of your body still under water feels almost numb, but almost warm. You're proud of yourself. You feel accomplished. And you laugh at how silly you were to be scared of the cold.

My afternoon at the beach

Today I had an epiphany. I came to not only believe, but feel with my whole being, that happiness is truly a choice. It is a state of being that a person can choose to live in. I think sometimes it might be much more difficult than others to choose happiness, but I think that the option is always there. I was at the beach listening to really uplifting, inspiring music on my iPod, standing in the waves and I felt so free. I think it was the most free I've felt since I've been here. And so I've decided to choose happiness for myself. For the rest of the summer. No matter what I miss back home, or who I miss, I need to stay freely in the moment of this summer.

There's a lot more I could say, but I'm not going to. Actually, I will say one more thing: there's a lot I want to do with my life. And I'm going to do it all.