Broken water fountain. Photo by Katelyn Avery.

Sometimes life hits you with a thirst so strong you just can’t live until you quench it. The pain in your throat just won’t go away, and you can’t imagine having one clear thought until your lips touch water.

This post will eventually get metaphorical, but for now I’m simply describing that regular thirst for water. I’m also describing first world problems, but sometimes privilege escapes your mind. It happens during life’s little obstacle courses. The ones where your floors water fountain breaks, floods into the elevator, but somehow you’re still not fazed. This is college after all, expect the unexpected.

The little things in life can be the most annoying. Somehow they are harder to avoid than actual issues. Maybe it’s because there’s no way to solve them sometimes. In my case I simply had to walk by a trash bag covered machine, down one floor. It feels like giving up in a way, because you’re not in control. Waiting is all you can do, and that just doesn’t seem right.

For anyone else who ever finds themselves overthinking anything, which includes most of us, the solution is to stop thinking. Just keep walking, because no one ever wins by sitting down. Too many things pass you by, and before you know it, everyone else is celebrating at the finish line. That’s right, they made it to another floors water fountain, and their water bottles have been filled.

-Katelyn Avery

-237 words