Finding Joy

“It looks like you found your joy” Supriya said as I ran back up to her after I skipped through the sand at the beach. She was right. I found my joy. No surprise to me I found it in a place that reminded me so much of where I grew up—with the sound of waves crashing on the shore and the wind coursing through my sea salted and quite frankly, sandy hair.

Finding joy means different things throughout the course of our lives, but this year has been the first time joy hasn’t simply fallen into my lap—I’ve had to fight for joy. It’s an arduous fight too, but in moments where I’ve found it, hidden in plain sight on the beaches of Goa, or in the little boy’s smile when I let him keep the extra 5 rupees change–– “aap kay liye” (for you)––from the fruit I buy on the side of the road when I walk to the metro from class, I am so grateful that I kept fighting.