After much debate, I decided to have my friend drop me off in the middle of the lake. Once I got into the water, he left and agreed to be back to pick me up in 20 minutes. I dove into the water and was surprised by the temperature. A week prior, it had been frigid but now it was lukewarm. Watching my friend disappear on the horizon gave me a slight panic. The opaqueness of the lake made it impossible to see anything under its waters. Curious as to how deep it was, I attempted to touch the bottom. As my ears began to pop violently, I came back up to the surface still questioning how deep it was. As I floated, an occasional dead fish or clump of algae would pass by. Once in awhile a considerable commotion of splashing would occur close by. By the time I would swim over to where the splashing was happening, it would have stopped. It was similar to a whack-a-mole game; once I went to one spot, it would start somewhere else. After I took my mind off the splashing, I just floated. I let my mind drift away and find complete silence. That silence was powerful, and I watched as my mind wandered. Thinking over everything, I had stored away in my brain. Once I thoroughly pondered over my problems, my mind seemed to decompress. Over this course, I have learned how healing nature can be. Nature is a reliable friend that is always around. Generally, on the lake, silence is not an option, but with an incoming storm, few dared to go out into the lake. Those moments of silence were extremely therapeutic. However, just as I fully unwound, I knew I had to make my way back to shore. The increase in waves and darkening of clouds signaled an approaching storm. The waves began to move me farther down the lake aggressively. I have never tried to fight a current before, but I was awestruck at its power. I quickly became tired and had to let the current pull me back. As I let the current take me, I felt chilling drops come down on my head. I found myself trying to retreat more of my body into the comparatively warmer lake water to hide from the rain. The peace of the lake had vanished, and it felt more hostile, I had started to look for my friend who was nowhere in sight. Realizing I may be on my own, I continued to swim into shore. I should have been worried, but rather than worry, I focused on how refreshing swimming in the lake was. Eventually, my feet became tangled in algae with the shoreline in reach. Just as my feet felt the rocky bottom of the shoreline, my friend appeared behind me. I was initially frustrated with him, but it turned into gratitude due to how much I enjoyed swimming back to shore. On the shore, I turned around to glance back at the open water I had been floating in, and while the lake still had all of its immense blue, it felt manageable. Being in the middle of the lake was nothing to fear, just a few moments to escape and drift away.
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