For many people around the world nature poses a constant struggle on individuals and how they live their everyday lives. In many instances it creates an obstacle and a duration of hardship and fear. Many people use this as their motivation for survival, whether it be implicit or explicit. I am no different- a young Fijian boy living in Calgary, Alberta who is unfamiliar with this sense of hardship and encountered by it on a routine walk home from  school to my house.

It was another cold windy day in Calgary, and I was energetically approaching my elementary school. The cold, crisp air was biting in to the skin of my little chubby cheeks causing me to feel a stinging sensation. The pain spread like a virus through my body I started feeling my fingers and toes  numb up, that is when I realized that I had to make a run to the doors to warm up as soon as possible. I started walking faster and faster evolving from a energetic walk to a frantic run. The haunting air brutally rushed my face and the pain increased dramatically , but it was all worth it because as I entered the school the warm air swept me off my feet.

I took off my oversized winter jacket and my colossal boots, I gingerly settled into my seat at the front of my grade 4 science class and began to listen attentively to every word my teacher was saying.  After an intriguing forty five minutes the class had ended and my joy had come to an end, this was  mainly due to the fact that I had math class after. Math was one of the most boring classes of the day and the only positive that come out of it was that it was the class before lunch. While I sitting in my desk I happened to stare outside and notice a blizzard emerging out of nothing. Snow flew past the window at a rapids speed. All you could see outside was white. Then it hit me I realized that it would be me verse the blizzard, I had to walk home for lunch.

When the bell rang I slowly got out of my seat and went into the coatroom. With students all around me frantically put on their clothes I took my time because I was in no rush to encounter the beast that awaited me. I made sure I wrapped myself up as well as possible, zipping up my jacket all the way up to my neck, my gloves on all the way up to my forearms, and my toque on head. I felt prepared a sudden rush of adrenaline filled my body and confidence emerged from fear and I took my first step out of the door.

The wind had almost blown me off my feet, but I forced myself to stay up on my feet I was determined to get home no matter what. I walked in the footsteps of others to make my task at hand a bit easier , but the weird zigzag nature of the other peoples step threw me off.  This was maybe a challenge I won’t be able to overcome alone. I kept continuing step by step there was no turning back. Each step felt harder and harder and the weight of my legs increased every single time I raised it.  The sound of my feet stepping into the snow didn’t help my pain at all. On the bright side I was almost home halfway there and I had almost won my battle against mother nature’s vicious beast.

Unfortunately that is when my fatigue took over, and I stepped on ice that wasn’t completely frozen and my foot fell in to the intense frigid water that lied beneath. As  I struggled to take my foot out of the ice I could not it was stuck there. The  glacial like water slowly entered my boot and the freezing cold nature of it froze my foot. I sat there still struggling to take my boot out but the pain was unbearable and at that moment my eyes started to water, I gave up. I had no energy to move and struggle anymore I sat there and cried. The tears ran down my face almost freezing on to my face and I had never shivered that much in my life.  Mother nature had won and it was the end of this battle I was drained of all energy, and it was inevitable that it was the end of me

However out of the whiteness of the blizzard this elderly woman emerged and offered her hand to me. She was my hero. Her soft mittens gripped me firmly and brought me up to my feet. As I got up the sound of the ice breaking was one of the sweetest sounds to hear  and the steps in the snow sounded not as scary. She brought me inside of her house and once again the heat of her home took over and extinguished the coldness that was once present.

As I warmed up she drove me to my house and as I stepped in through the door I smelt the beautiful aroma of butter chicken fill my nostrils, the smell could not be any better. I walked up and confronted my grandparents and asked them how they were doing this particular afternoon like every other day. My grandparents both responded by saying they were doing “fine”. They then asked me in return on how school was. This sense of awkwardness filled the room and I did not say word. In Fijian families weakness is not acceptable and sharing this story would totally label me as the family’s “little girl.”

After I finished eating I thought about how I even stepped out of those elementary doors, and how things could have turned out if it wasn’t for my hero. Even now fear has played a major role in my personality and what I stand for. It is inevitable to avoid fear but knowledge and awareness will assist in decision making. This in many cases can determine how one may overcome fear or possibly drown in it.