October 2, 2025
There are days when life feels like one long stumble into a river. Maybe it’s the spilled coffee on your shirt before you even leave the house. Maybe it’s the email that derails your carefully planned morning. Or maybe it’s just the never-ending pile of laundry that somehow breeds in the dark when no one’s looking.
The fall into the river isn’t what undoes us. It’s staying under. Paulo Coelho reminds us that the drowning comes not from the fall, but from the decision—conscious or not, to remain submerged.
We all know what that looks like. A minor annoyance snowballs into a full-blown bad day because we keep replaying it. A single mistake convinces us that maybe we’re not cut out for the task at all. An argument lingers because instead of swimming back to shore, we rehearse every bitter word.
But the river isn’t the end, it’s just part of the journey. Sometimes it carries you downstream to new places you didn’t plan to visit. Sometimes you have to thrash a bit before finding your footing again. The real test is whether you stay under or surface for air.
Personally, I’ve had seasons where I was practically setting up a vacation home at the bottom of the river. Stress, comparison, and overthinking were weights keeping me down. It wasn’t until I realized that staying submerged was optional that things shifted. Choosing to breathe, choosing to move, choosing to climb out—that’s where freedom is.
So the next time you feel yourself slipping into that current, remember: falling is human. Drowning is optional.
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