Writing and Rhetoric
Personal Narrative
Francis Charteris
Nicholas Morris
There was a moment in my life, precisely a year and a half ago, when I came to realize what bliss really was. The rain was coming down, but I was four feet up. The first drop slipped down my cheek bone, leaving behind a hurried, shallow path of water. It came faster. I was suspended in the air, a small flame above a frozen river, and the rain was cool. The line was wet too, as water droplets accumulated exponentially. And then it hit me. The flame became ice, and my eyes closed. My body went numb, yet the cold wasn’t a factor. The tension relaxed, and the trees swayed. I was a new person. Like a caterpillar going through metamorphosis, I changed in the sky. It was this realization I made, that changed the world around me.
My whole life I’d always been the guy that spent every moment doing something. I just couldn’t stop. It wasn’t in my blood. Then I heard about a mysterious sport. Something that defies gravity, and requires genuine relaxation. So I took the work money I was saving for college and bought a slackline. What’s that, you might ask? Its a line, about two inches wide, that one ties between two trees. The line bends from the tension, and the person stands on it and walks across. A tightrope, for recreational use. It was made famous by a guy named Andy Lewis, dubbed “Sketchy Andy.” He is a professional highliner and trickliner and does numerous tricks on it for show. He took his skills to the Superbowl Halftime Show in 2012, and inspired the nation. Ever since then, slacklining has been a growing sport. Especially in Colorado, where it was picked up really easily by rock climbers. I decided to purchase one that summer so that I could have a skill going into college that I could use to impress friends, and even more importantly, girls. I was desperate to change my life, but I didn’t have the mindset to. I wanted to be that guy that could take some time to just chill out and think about life.
I went out everyday, and reflected on my past four years. I was a nerd by definition, but I didn’t realize it. I overlooked how hard I worked in high school and realized the six AP classes I too gave me no credit for college. I achieved a 3.85 GPA for a school that required a 3.2. And I knew all along that CU Boulder was exactly where I wanted to go. Then I reflected on my social life. I was pretty uptight about it, I stuck with one group of friends from sixth grade all the way through senior year. And I didn’t even get to do as crazy of things with them as I wanted. School was literally half my life.
I kept going out. Walking a little further on the line everyday, and taught myself to relax. It was a sort of tranquil meditation, but in my own form. Just you, hovering over the grass, the wind quivering the line, the leaves falling on your face... It did something to me. I’ve never felt anything like it before. I developed deeper thoughts, cleansed my body, and breathed a new air. It was a slow gradual process for me to realize my epiphany, but it was the single most memorable experience of my life. And I had no help in it.
What was my epiphany? Its something hard to put into words, as it means so much to me. I was on my way to the trees, and the weather was reminiscent of “the calm before the storm”. It was so quiet outside I could hear my veins pumping electricity throughout my body from the espresso I just consumed. I set up the line and crossed over. It was a long session... I spent easily an hour and half before the first drop of rain hit me. And that drop hit me like thunder. My body had hit total nirvana, and the rain completed it. I realized that I just needed to take time and relax. Forget about school while I’m in it. Take more breaks. Learn to enjoy life.
Walking back I feel like a took a glass of ice water in a hot shower and chugged it. My insides were completely different and I had a new outlook on life. I felt fresh and ready to take on the world. I went into college, and felt a lot more relaxed about my classes. I instantly became much more social and willing to do things besides school work. Last year, freshman year, was the best year of my life, hands down. I experienced many things I never thought I would experience. In the past year I’ve eaten ghost peppers, broke my ankle, trespassed, and done more. I’ve been more social than I’ve ever been, and during that first semester I couldn’t even keep up with the amount of people I was trying to connect with. That revelation literally changed my life and expanded my course of knowledge.
I can honestly say it felt like a gut feeling to buy one, and strangely enough, it worked. I have always been a strong advocator for following your gut, and it lead me along a path that helped. I now look at things in a way that I never had before, not with a mindframe to get it done, but with a mindframe to complete it with fun along the way. I could say I’m the happiest I’ve ever been at this moment.
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