The weather lately has been preparing us for a potentially colder winter than usual. When the weather gets colder, I eat more hot food and drink more hot drinks.

Earlier last week around lunch time, I decided to grab some food from one of the dining halls and bring it back to the warm comfort of my room.

I went all the way to one of the dining halls where they were serving cheese toasties and tomato soup. On my way there, my mind wandered to a land of metaphors.

I started to compare a simple task, such as getting food, to something bigger that happens in life. By the time I boxed up my food, I forgot what it was I was thinking about.

I got all the way back to the door to go into my residence hall when my soup fell and splattered everywhere.

At that moment, I remembered my thoughts from earlier. I began to understand that sometimes things don’t work out the way we want.

I didn’t want my soup to spill, but it did. Accidents happen.

I was upset that I got so close to being able to eat but fell short of the finish line. It’s okay to be upset when things don’t go as planned, but don’t give up.

Soup spills. Life doesn’t go the way we want, but life doesn’t stop.

I happened to have a can of tomato soup that I had brought from home, so I just made my own soup, but even in this instance I solved my problem by moving forward. I looked ahead and made myself some tomato soup.

There is so much more to life than wins and losses. You can’t really lose unless you give up the fight. When you accept failure and don’t do anything to change your life for the better, you lose.

If a wave of hurt is coming at you and you have time to react, you should get out of the way. My spilled tomato soup was just a momentary set back.

I still ate, but I had to wait a little longer. I had to be patient.

You are going to drop your metaphorical soup, and when you do, don’t give up. Look for more soup.

Karena Ozier is a freshman elementary education major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or at kmozier@eiu.edu.