Take a step back and smile

I’m writing this post based off of an article I recently read from the website adventure-journal.com (which if you’ve never checked out, do so, it’s a great read). So before you read my commentary, I recommend you taking the time to read it yourself:

http://www.adventure-journal.com/2012/03/in-praise-of-honest-enthusiasm-for-the-awesomeness-of-life/

This article in particular hit home for me, after having a particular tough two weeks in the classroom. Yup, it took that long for the students to settle back into the routine of being a student after their 10 day break for Semana Santa. But as I was riding my bike home from my last klass of the week down an isolated stretch of cobblestone highway, surrounded by miles of farm land and hill country, I realized just how good I have it. Now this is something I need to do at least twice a week. And under the scorching hot Nicaraguan sun, it’s not exactly an enjoyable ride. I looked around, and it sort of slowly crept up on me where I was and what I was doing. It was as if someone had poured warm, delicious water on my head, and it slowly trickled down my chest and back, spreading to the tips of my fingers and toes. And when it finally felt that I was completely enwrapped with this warm, happy sensation, I just wanted to scream. Not for any particular reason than wanting shout for joy, as if to recognize just how great the moment is. I biked harder as if I’ve been recharged with a new found energy. It’s a similar feeling I get when I catch my first wave in a surf session, win an important game, or accomplish something I’ve been working on for a long time. But instead of any of those achievements, what I’m feeling is the joy of life, and what is going on around me.

I don’t know if any of you have had this experience, but I can look back at distinct moments in my life, of seemingly no importance, when this feeling has crept up on me: walking back to my apartment from an honor council meeting at Richmond, walking home from the grocery store down Balboa Street in San Francisco, or lying under my mosquito net my first night in Nicaragua. Each event is wholly un-phenomenal, but it was in these moments where you take the time to stop and look around, and realize where you’re at.

I don’t know exactly what made me want to write this article, but I hope that it helps you all to take a second every day to step away from it all, and just realize what you’re doing, even if it’s an every day task, is awesome.

High Five anyone?

“ ‘Well, and what then? What am I going to do?’ And he immediately gave himself the answer: ‘Well I shall live. Ah, how splendid’ ”

                                                -Count Bezukhov, War and Peace