I used to try to swim against the current.

In my mind, I had to at least attempt to swim past… right?

I take pride in the fact that I never give up.

That makes me strong. Resilient. A fighter.

But trying and giving my all was leading me to drown.

With each stroke, I found myself under water.

I would try to catch my breath as I mustered the courage to try yet again.

Frustration and disappointment would be an understatement.

I couldn’t comprehend why I was in the same exact position

no matter how hard I tried to swim through and weather the storm.

Each failed attempt was disheartening, but I still tried repeatedly.

My logic was this: With so much time spent,

what a shame it would be to have my efforts be for nothing.

So I continued to swim against the currents,

still baffled every single time I found myself drowning.

It took a while for me to learn from my mistakes.

Until one day, I decided to do something different – the unthinkable.

I was exhausted, hanging by a thread spiritually, and at my breaking point –

I decided to give up the fight and see where the waves take me.

My guard was still up, ready to start aggressively swimming

the moment I felt things were going south.

But I decided to trust the waves…

Maybe they were trying to tell me something this whole time.

I took a deep breath, and let the current take me wherever I had to go.

I didn’t resist or panic, but I was afraid.

Still, I decided to trust the process and surrender to what was.

The waves continued to crash down on me.

I feared that I made a huge mistake, but I resisted the urge to swim.

I started to ride the waves instead of trying to go against them.

I took each wave slowly, one by one, until I was in calmer waters.

After a while, I saw that I was being led to a beautiful place.

I found myself in the eye of the storm.

Now I understand what it means to weather a storm within myself.

Like the waves, everything comes and goes as it should.

Ride the waves instead of resisting them.

You’ll be surprised to see that you are floating.