Real Life

It’s very common to hear people complain about wanting to escape life, to get out of it, to leave the world behind, but I’d rather escape into life. I’d rather dive in deeper and see the true beauty of it instead of remaining static on the surface, only seeing the struggles and hardships. 

I remember the night I really realized I was missing out on real life. I snuck out of my family’s lake house, just after the start of fall my Junior year. I made my way carefully down the hill as the gravel road crunched under my feet, and I could hear the frogs and cicadas singing their lullabies. If I stood still and just listened, I could hear the licking of the soft waves against the rocky shore as it echoed up through the trees.

I remember walking down the dirt path to the dock. The trees seemed to glow from the neon moss creating soft patterns all over their bark. The air smelled thick of minerals and rain, and the lights of other houses and docks twinkled like sunken stars on the surface of the lake. No boats were alive to disrupt the serene beauty of the surrounding nature, and it all overwhelmed me.

I remember allowing myself to really take a deep breath, to really let it all in. The dock creaked under my feet as I entered. The water was cold and soft on my skin when I dipped my feet in. The whole moment was so surreal, and I remember thinking that if all of this is present now, then it must be present all of the time. If this peace is alive now, it must be alive, even in the chaos of life.

There is no need to wish away life because there’s more to the world than the hard times and the pain. There’s beauty to be found everywhere in other people or in places usually overlooked. There is always peace somewhere to be found, even in the middle of an uphill climb. It’s all about taking a look around, taking a deep breath, and letting it come naturally. That’s when escaping into real life is possible.