Four years ago, when I was 16 years old, I went to Sweden to visit my cousins. When I got there I noticed everything was really quiet, and that everyone minded their own personal business. First, it seemed to me that was the way things should be, because at the end, it is only you and no one will take care or worry about what you do or don't do. For me it was the perfect world, at last I was enjoying myself without having to worry if someone else is bothering me because of how I dress, or the way I talk, even my not so good English was really cool for the flight attendant.
After some weeks of hanging out with my cousins and doing really cool things, we went to some amazing castles and big Viking villages, where we learned a lot of not so useful, yet really fun stuff, like throwing axes. Actually, I still don't know why I would need to know how to throw an axe, but it was something I will never forget. Also, we went water skiing, which is something that requires not only a lot of strength in the legs, but also in the upper part of the body, and in that specific time of my life, I lacked both. But alas, everything was going smoothly, for some strange reason I was able to keep myself in the correct position for a good amount of time, until I decided I was ready to jump from a wooden ramp.
Yeah, me, a wimpy kid, with any kind of strength whatsoever, in my first water skiing class, thinking I could do something cool with just being 1 hour on the water. Even though I was able to perform a really decent jump, the landing part was actually the tricky part, the water strike, when you crash with it, is really strong, I would say you need double the toughness in order to get on your feet again. I guess you can imagine what happened next, my legs when backwards and the water pulled me so strong I couldn't handle the rope you are supposed to have in your hands. The bad part, I hate cold water, which being in Sweden means it wasn't cold, it was almost frozen!!! The moment I felt my body starting to chill, I knew it was it for me. Nevertheless, being 16 years old made me think that it wasn't the way I wanted my life to end, I hadn't done anything I was really proud of, and I really wanted to learn how they do all those awesome animations in videogames. Also, there were a lot of things I wanted to do, other countries I wanted to go. So I started to fight back, or swim in this case. By the time I reached the surface, the boat was already over me, so they just pulled me away from the water, gave me a strange hot drink and a blanket.
Before that moment, I never thought if what I was doing was being helpful or at least meaningful, if I had to change how I was living or any kind of philosophic thought. I assumed everything was ok the way it was. To be honest, I learned 2 things that day, the first one, dying as a frozen Viking isn't as awesome as it may seem. And second, you have to live everyday trying to do something useful for you and for the people around you, trying to enjoy every minute, not like your last day, because that is depressing, but live it like if it is going to be the best day you will ever have!!!
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