There's a game my boyfriend loves to play that calls for nothing but a plenty of both time and imagination. It involves one narrator and at least two players. The narrator puts the players in a certain situation, usually with a problem to solve, and allows them to make different choices. We call it "Choose Your Own Adventure." The spirit of the game is to orchestrate your own circumstance through the choices you make. I've played the game a few times, but have never realized its real, honest relevancy until just recently. We are so blind in our day to day lives to how much power we have over circumstance not physically, but mentally.

The connection of mind and body is one that cannot be broken, yet mind can be made to overpower body. Now, I must be careful to make myself very clear. By no means do I intend to state that anything in the mental illness realm can be "thought" away. By no means can anyone physically and immediately change a bad, undesirable circumstance. My point to be made is that your choice lies in your perspective. No matter how boring, how difficult, how exciting, or how easy any given situation is, there is always, always something to be learned. There is always a chance to create an adventure. This past weekend, on my birthday, this became so abundantly clear.

I woke up snug in bed to a gloomy, overcast, breezy morning: my favorite kind. I went to class, got some lunch with friends, opened gifts, talked to family, etc. But later in the day it began to rain and on my 19th birthday, I reverted back to four years old. My friends and I decided to take a trip outside to enjoy the rain, something I realize humans don't do often enough. We danced, ran around in the grass, climbed trees, took photos, picked flowers, all with not another soul but us in sight.

We played outside in our glorious Mother Earth until the rain ceased. And then She granted us the privilege to see a bright, perfect rainbow dance straight across the sky above the academic quad.

At the end of the day, we had created an adventure out of something commonly regarded as adverse. A rainstorm became a playground for us. That afternoon, we ended up with soaking clothes, but smiling hearts. The situation made me conscious of the profound, astounding love that both the Earth and my friends have for me. It is a love none of us are worthy of, yet still, we revel in it.

The end of the rain brought a rainbow and then a brilliant sunset. And that sunset at the conclusion of my hippie-esque birthday adventure brought me a sense of peace that I have control over my thoughts. It is so painstakingly hard to find anything in this world that can be your own, but your perspective will always be so. I encourage you readers to turn rainstorms into dances. Pick flowers, not fights. Find your blinding sunset in the middle of grey skies. There is always something beautiful right beneath your darkness. I wish you the energy and goodwill to find it. What a wondrous adventure you have the opportunity to create.

All photographs credited to Lindsay Thomaston.