I personally love rivers. They keep moving, never stopping until something gets in their way. You can see this by the amount of ripples rippling around rigid rocks. Even then, the river knows to

improvise. It moves around it, and keeps doing what water does when it’s free. This is how it sustains life. It cleans what is dirty in the body, then keeps circulating through the bloodstream until eventually, you become hydrated. 

Bruce Lee once taught me that “when you pour water into a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. Be water.” This is to remind us to be formless, shapeless, easygoing to the point where being nonchalant becomes a form of power. This is because Bruce reminded me that water can crash. It can overpower someone who isn’t expecting a big wave. It can hurt, and even kill a person who stays under the flow of water too long.

This is why college taught me to be like a river. I’ve learned that yes, I do not have time to simply ride the wave wherever it takes me. I could simply crash, and even burn depending on how far you let things slip.

However, I am reminded of how easy life can be once I recognize that I can simply follow the flow of what I like to do, who I like being around and when. It’s easy to get lost in it all. But I have been reminded that health plus happiness will equal wealth.