I thought of visiting Tornio River as I had done on my first day in Finland. It flows between Tornio (Finland) and Happaranda (Sweden)- a distinct yellow IKEA board towering in the distance.

It is one of my favorite places. Finland’s climate gives the river a different personality in each season. In September (Autumn) the water levels were low. Ducks, frogs and children flocked around. I had not yet adjusted to the purity of Finland: a simple blue river left me awestruck. Then I had walked on it as it froze during the stinging winter, miniature snow storms whirling about its surface.

For me nature is more than pretty trees and fresh air. It is my work space. A last resort for problems that are too difficult to normally solve. I would come to nature when I felt negative emotions. Its rivers had felt my sadness.  I sat next to them while gushing streams created a hypnotic melody. The pier was my favorite place in my first host family. I would eat, write and make calls there. I would come here feeling homesick and the river rocked the wooden body of the pier, like a mother rocking her baby to sleep, relaxing me and strengthening my determination to finish my exchange year.

Its trees- colorful Autumn leaves, which were shed in Winter and buried under snow- had heard my angry rants, soothingly swaying with whatever wind blew during the season. I would walk into the forest with a problem, and leave with a solution. Many of my best ideas and philosophies have come from lonely walks and ski trips in Finnish forests- they give an astonishing clarity to the mind.

Back to the moment. I had 15 minutes to spare before the bus and I wondered if it would be worth the 10 minutes walk to and fro the the river.

Why put in the effort just for five minutes?

But then I realized, once I return back to India, it would be these five minutes that I will desperately crave.

So I visited the beautiful river that had been there for me. I stood on its bank, the water had risen quite a lot. Green was back in fashion: grass once again grew on the barren land left behind by the melted snow. A few ducks had returned from their foreign vacation- soon to be joined by their flock. A cold breeze gave me shivers- still too soon to leave the jacket home. After nine months one would think I adjusted to that Finnish purity, but I doubt I ever will.

It was quiet, again I could think clearly.

I remembered the time in my exchange where I was homesick just for a moment. I would have given anything to spend just one minute in a room with my old  friends and family. That was impossible. But to avoid that impossibility by taking each opportunity, even if it lasts for five minutes, was possible.

Sometimes I get lazy and procrastinate. In Finland, plans with my Finnish friends were postponed because

‘Why  meet only for 30 minutes, instead let’s go next Friday’.

This mentality creates many of our regrets. Though half an hour feels too little in the moment, that is all you want when you look back. To be back with the people you could have spent those 30 minutes with, but now they are gone.

The ‘Friday’ seldom came, and I lost precious minutes.

You must experience this to fully realize what I mean, and I hope you experience it as soon as possible to better use every-day opportunities. Luckily I learn this lesson early on: to pass up spending even a minute with someone or something I love, just because it seems to be too little time, should be out of the question.

At the end of my exchange,

or whatever era of my life,

when the time comes to leave,

I do not want to say ‘Just give me five more minutes.’

Carpe Diem all  the way.