TO FEEL ALIVE

My father is my hero. He has lived such an exciting life with many adventures. He has traveled far and seen incredible things, and there's always a story for him to tell. 

In his teens, my father had to move to a  foreign country a long way from where he grew up. His family were very wealthy and he went to a good private school for boys. He didn't like it at all, and he couldn't relate to the life he and his family were living when he saw the huge contrasts in this new country. He couldn't find happiness in materialism. He had to find it elsewhere. 

"The only time I was truly happy was while surfing. Just me and my good friends, our boards and the waves" my father said to me once. When he talks about surfing, I can see a spark in his eyes. 

When my father was old enough to leave home, he bought a van, took his surfboard with him and set out on the road. He slept in the van and surfed all day. This has always been such an inspiration to me. 

One year ago I traveled to Portugal. I wanted to learn how to surf and walk in my father's footsteps. It was two of the best weeks in my life. I've never met so many cool and happy people. They surfed all day and lived simple. They didn't need much to be truly happy. The whole scene was like taken out of a movie. 


Surfing was hard at the beginning. I kept falling off and I took a few good hits by the ocean. At the end of each day I was really beaten up, but I loved it. It made so much sense doing this. Each day I got a little better, and I was determined to learn. After a week I didn't fall off as easily, I caught some good waves, and I felt alive. 


I get the same feeling when I snowboard, swim or if I'm just out in the nature. I don't need a fancy  home or expensive things to be happy. I just need a bed to sleep in, food to eat, my friends and family and the opportunity to do the things I love that make me feel alive. 


To me, money truly can't buy happiness. 


-E

THE SECRETS OF THE WIND

My grandfather meant the world to me. Shortly before he died, he gave me a book and said to me: "Promise me you'll read this. It changed me and my outlook at life." He knew he was dying, and it was of great importance to him that I would read this particular book. It was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. My grandfather was a wise and kind man. He had been in the war, raised many kids, and he stayed with the one he loved, my grandmother, for over seventy years. In a way, he raised me as well. I was thirteen when he died, and I grieved for a long time. Then I remembered what he had told me about The Alchemist, so I started reading it.  


The book changed me as well. It's been six years since I first read it, and for six years a special quote from the book has proven very difficult to forget:


"The boy felt jealous of the freedom of the wind, and saw that he could have the same freedom. There was nothing to hold him back except himself." 


Hence the name of this blog. The wind is free to go where ever it likes. Nothing can hold it back. If something is in its way, it simply takes another route to pass it. I believe that we can learn a great deal of the wind and its behavior. The wind is wise and carries secrets we should pursuit. We shouldn't let anything hold us back either. We are free and we can do what ever we like, reach what ever goals we have and get the life we wish for. Nothing can hold us back except for ourselves. We are our greatest enemy. If we do not succeed in reaching our goals, we can't blame anyone but ourselves. 


Another quote that comes to my wind while writing this is "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" by William Ernest Henley. Sure other people do affect us and our choices, but ultimately, you are the captain. You set the sails and you choose which route to take. 


I am as free as the wind and I am the master of my fate, and I choose not to let others bring me down. I choose not to hold myself back. This way I will reach my goals.

-E

A WRITER

A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people   -Thomas Mann


I'd like to think of myself as a writer one day. One succeeding in creating something truly worthy of someones attention. I want to write something someone sees as meaningful. Just someone. Anyone. I'm not there yet, but through this blog I hope to train myself and acquire some skills in the art of writing. I hope that someone will read the words I write and find them interesting. I'l write about many things. Personal things, general thoughts... what ever comes to my mind.


I have trouble finding a place to start, but it'll come to me soon enough. I can at least say I possess some signs of being a writer; I find writing difficult. Yet it gives me so much.


 -E