Could you tell me a time you felt alive?

The time on my car’s dash-board read 5:30am. The sky outside was still dressed in its evening colours. The summer’s day heat was simmering on the horizon; bubbling and boiling like the early morning sun on its ascent into the sky. A lingering taste of black coffee brewed on my lips and, rubbing my hands together (anticipating the cold water to come), I reminisced over the warm clutch I had held around my reusable cup.

The only sound to break the stillness of nature were the waves which lapped at the shoreline… and, stepping out from my car, slipping into my swimsuit, I sunk my feet in the soft-shelled beach. A sweet, almost tangy smell of salt and kelp hung heavy and thick in the stillness of the early-dawn… I stood small, feet buried deep in the ground, staring out at the far-stretched ocean; surrounded by no-one else, alone, yet, in the company of nature.

I closed my eyes. Inhaled. Exhaled… And then, ran full-speed into the water. The hairs on my skin set off like a wild-fire; the water burnt momentarily, but after adjusting to the cold I lay on my back, floating, bobbing, staring out at the sky above. I inhaled. I exhaled. Inhaled… and exhaled.

I felt alive, I was alive.