It was eight grade discovery week in altai .  The scenery around me was gorgeous .  Mountains surrounded me as we paddled through the crystal blue water  , it was the third day of discovery week and i was so excited to be here with all my freinds and most of all i was excited  about rafting.Soon ,we were paddling up to the boat right in front of us . My whole boats paddles moved in sync  .We paddled  as fast as we could to  seize the opportunity to drench the boat in front  in the bone-chilling water . As we approached the target boat we smashed into the back of the neon orange raft . As a result, it caused   yelling and screaming as we smacked our orange and blue  paddles on  the water to make huge splashes of white water  shoot up into the air . Soon a huge splash of ice cold water hit me  like  an ice pack .  While the water war continued  I realized my opportunity , It took several seconds to think it over    . I needed to make a decision before the boat reached the rapids with the huge rocks .
Finally, I  made up my mind to just go for it . My mind rushed with excitement as I just went for it . I crawled to the front of my boat and took a small leap over to the neighboring boat .  I struggled to get into the boat but eventually  I tumbled into the boat . I smacked the bottom of the raft and stumbled to get on my feet . I almost tripped as I  struggled to regain balance on the raft . Even some freezing cold water came into the raft as I stepped into it .

  As soon as I got on the boat I looked over at my old boat , they were yelling and screaming  at me “ why did you leave “ they shouted . I did not respond , I did not know what to say .On the other hand, my new boat was cheering me in . The advisor to the group welcomed me in as I was excited to join a new boat and be a part of a different team . Everyone on the boat was crazy but super nice , so I thought what could go wrong ?.But soon  I realized my mistake , this boat was crazy and far less competitive than my last boat. Immediately people attempted to throw me off the boat into the freezing blue water . My boat was like a bunch of monkeys that got on a boat . Everyone was pushing and shoving . This boat was super overwhelming and I regretted switching  Before I knew it  my old  boat was already far ahead of us .
      

The paddles of my team's boat where   barely dipping into the water as we chugged behind my last boat  . I sat third to last on my boat . Soon our boat fell back into 3rd then 4th out of all the rafts that were on the river as I almost gave up on the  competitive side of me . The ropes that tied  down my feet  on to the boat were starting to hurt. I could now see my old boat in front of us putting their paddles into the air and cheering after they passed another boat  .  I wanted back , I wanted to be back on my old boat and most of all I wanted to be on the boat who was now in 2nd while my boat  was still lounging around in 4th. 

I missed my old boat so much I would even try to encourage my team to move faster to catch up to my old boat.  I tried to encourage them to chant 1,2,1,2,so our oversized paddles  would move in sync .  But soon enough I realized that it was no use . My old boat was way too far ahead of us and my boat was barely even moving. I took one big deep breath and tried to calm down . I had to acknowledge that no matter how hard I tried my boat was not going to move any faster or past any boat for a long time . I was getting so stressed out my mind started rushing . I wanted to be on my old boat so bad.

I thought about why I switched , I really did not know . Maybe it was because I wanted to switch for excitement  or to see if my boat would miss me . I did not know , but I was also proud of myself because I was brave enough to hop over to another boat  .  So right then and there  I decided to not  care if we are third or even forth,  this is not what rafting is about . Rafting is not about who is first and who is last it is about having fun and throwing people in the water . I learned that not everything is a race and I don't always have to be first . I needed to dial down my competitive side and just relax . 

At this point I learned something about me , I was way too competitive and serious . I needed to take life a little less seriously and just loosen up. I never quite realized how serious and competitive I was till now . This was going to be quite difficult for me because I'm a really competitive person  and I'm always on  edge . I tried to calm myself by taking a couple deep breaths .   Soon as I became relaxed I realized then I was enjoying rafting more and more and more , Our team even caught up to third . I enjoyed the company of my friends  on the raft and most of all I enjoyed my experience rafting and will never forget it .