I take cold showers. Several years back, the water heater in my house broke, and for weeks, bathing in freezing water was my ________. Although it took some getting used to, I discovered that there was something ________ and energizing. Moreover, the cold shower has changed the way I ________ life.

The worst part about showering in cold water is the moment right before ________ into the water. As soon as you hop in, though, your body quickly ________ to the temperature, and it’s not so bad the rest of the way. For me, stepping into the cold water means ________; it’s getting over the hesitation that comes from knowing I’m about to do something ________.

One of my first “cold shower'” moments came one day in my high school, when I ________ an internship after a career day presentation. One of the speakers was a manager at a large Silicon Valley venture capital firm. The more she talked about her job, the more I became ________. Since I had an interest in economics as well as technology, working at a venture capital firm seemed like the ________ place for me. So, I decided that I was going to ask the speaker if her company hired interns.

As I approached her, however, I was a bit upset. After all, why would a successful business woman offer a job to an ________ high schooler? Still, gathering up my ________, I walked up to her, and introduced myself. We ended up having a wonderful conversation, and even better, she ________ to interview me for an internship. That summer, I ended up having the ________ to work for her firm. My “cold shower” experiences these years have ________ me that good things happen to those who are willing to step out of the comfort zone and challenge themselves for more possibilities.

My daughter and I were swimming in our pool one summer day. This day was like any of the other days, so I had no way of knowing that this one would go down in our family history as a________we cherish(珍惜)and still________from time to time.  

The sun was setting and the night was________approaching. My daughter________it first—a spider was spinning(纺织) her web at the bottom of the freshly painted blue fence(篱笆)that________our pool. It surprised me that she saw this, and it surprised me even more that she wasn’t________of the spider.  

Instead, she________watched as the spider busied herself in the cycle of life. As we both watched this wonder of nature, a very simple thought________me. I had lost the track of________. I honestly didn’t know how long we had been just staying there and________that spider making her web. But, regardless of whatever amount of time had passed, the truth was that we were________having fun.  

What we had done was to spend time together and________the simple things in life. We talked about how precious our________amount of time is on this planet and how we should________to enjoy the simple things in life like the flight of a bird. The simple things are the ________things in life, even when they include spiders and webs.