Life comes in waves so learn to ride it out. Over the summer of 2022, I spent another 3 months in my favorite place on the planet: Brazil. During this time I made endless discoveries and came to various realizations but my favorite came to me one afternoon while waiting to catch the perfect wave. My feet sunk into the warm sand, and the sound of the ocean was like a voice calling me into the water. With each step I took further into the sea, all the worries that floated around my brain seemed to dissolve into the water. This wasn’t a new feeling, but perhaps the reason why I love surfing as much as I do. There was a subtle breeze that I could distantly hear but barely feel. While waiting for the ultimate wave, I took in my surroundings, I could see birds soaring overhead, feel the overwhelming warmth of the sun on my shoulders, and hear waves crashing on the shore. I waited in the water for what felt like forever, but I didn't mind because I was the calmest I had ever been. After hopping on my board, and laying there waiting, I realized that my life was much like the ocean and surfing. The waves are the challenges and emotions I experience, the sound is the joy or the sadness that can fill a room, and the sun that hovers above it much like the moon, and the stars are the people that can light up one's world. 

Eventually, there it was, the perfect wave. I got ready to stand up on my board. I paddled my way into it, moved my foot toward the front of the board, and pushed myself up. Although the wave had seemed perfect, it was rather bumpy and rough. The water was choppy and made it nearly impossible to stay on my board. As I rode out the wave, I couldn’t help but think about how it connected to my life in various instances. There was one day, just at the beginning of this year that mirrored the wave. It started off like the perfect morning, I jammed out to Harry Styles using my hairbrush as a microphone, had my favorite breakfast, and then spent the 30-minute commute to school laughing with my mom. Everything was perfect, even if was just for a few hours. The sun was shining in the morning, but faded and turned to clouds by lunch. I looked around the lunch table, but two faces were missing. Two of my best friends were nowhere to be found.

           All of a sudden questions flooded my brain. “What if they found out? What if they were going to tell someone?” Moments later they came back and told me I needed to go to Mr. Chuhta’s office. Before even reaching the door, tears filled my eyes, and upon opening it, I was greeted by Mr. Chuhta and Ms. Kress. Although I didn’t know what they would say, I did know what this was about. That day, I had to do one of the hardest things I’ve ever been asked to do. I had to roll up my sleeve, reveal the faint marks across my arm,  and begin to explain the storm of things and emotions that went on in my head that had led us to that very moment sitting in this office listening to the tick of the clock as time slowly passed by. The hardest part was not accepting help, but feeling like I was drowning and would not be able to swim again. 

 Just a day or two later sitting in Mr. Chuths's office I realized that this is what it meant when I grasped that the challenges in life are just like catching the perfect wave. I had to ride out this wave if I wanted to reach the sand. Although the sound of people's voices as they judged and critiqued the situation was not quite as beautiful as the music of the ocean, it reminded me to search instead for the sound of laughter and joy which would eventually lead me to the people that make up the sun, the moon and the stars that brighten up my everyday. What I have learned is that my life is beautifully complicated much like the ocean, it is about letting go of the fear, and riding out each wave of life as it comes. You can't fear drowning because coming up for fresh air might be just the best thing you ever experience.