It Is What It Is

During our trip to Thailand, my friend and I spent a few days in Koh Phangan. We were staying in Haad Rin, on the quieter backwater side of the beach in a beautiful little beach house.
We absolutely loved that part of the island. Every day we found a new café, tried different local food, explored nearby beaches and spent hours just enjoying the slow island life. We were having such a great time that we almost didn’t feel like going anywhere else.

Then we heard about “Mae Haad Beach” and it was about 40–50 Kms away from where we were staying and everyone kept telling us that we shouldn’t miss it. So one morning we rented a bike and decided to make the trip.
I drove while my friend sat behind me and honestly the ride itself became one of my favourite parts of the day. The roads went up and down through the hills with beautiful views of the sea appearing every few minutes. We kept stopping just to look around before continuing our ride.
When we finally reached Mae Haad Beach, we understood why everyone recommended it.
“Mae Haad” is famous for its sandbar like a narrow path that usually appears when the tide is low. It connects the main beach to a small island, allowing people to simply walk across with the sea on both sides.

The day we went, things looked a little different.
The water was much higher and the sandbar was almost completely underwater.
We stood there watching people make their way across, and my friend said - Let’s go.
I hadn’t really planned on crossing and I was perfectly happy sitting on the beach but she was excited and I said yes to the plan and we started swimming.

At first, it was easy but then the water slowly became deeper until it reached our necks. We stopped in the middle, looking at each other, trying to decide what to do and I kept saying - We’ve already come this far and if we keep going, the water should start getting shallower again. And look around, there are so many people here, if we need help, we can always ask, but she wasn’t comfortable anymore. I don’t want to continue, she said. So we stood there for another minute. She really wanted to reach the other side and I could see she was disappointed.
Trying to make her feel better, I smiled and said - “Es lo que es.” She looked at me with a confused expression and asked me - what does that mean? I laughed and said, It’s a Spanish phrase and it simply means, “It is what it is.”
She smiled and repeated it - Es lo que es? And I said - Yes. It means sometimes things don’t go the way we want and all we can do is accept them and move on.
She laughed and started repeating it too. “Es lo que es...” and for the next minute or two we kept saying it back and forth, almost joking about it.
“Es lo que es.”
“Es lo que es.”
We had no idea that this silly little conversation was about to become the most memorable part of our day and the moment I said those words, I turned around to swim back and that’s when I saw it.
A man was swimming past us in the opposite direction and on his arm was a tattoo and it said exactly what we had just been talking about.
”It is what it is.”
I completely froze and couldn’t believe what I was looking at.
I pointed at his arm and kept telling my friend - Look! Look at his tattoo!

We had been talking about those exact words just seconds earlier and now they were right in front of us.
What were the chances?
Maybe it was just a coincidence.
Or maybe some moments don’t need an explanation.

We never made it to the other side that day. Instead, we swam back, sat on the beach, laughed about what had happened and spent the rest of the afternoon doing absolutely nothing.

Looking back now, I don’t think the most memorable part of that day was that we couldn’t reach the island. It was that unexpected moment in the middle of the sea.
A simple conversation, a stranger, a tattoo and five words that appeared at exactly the right time.

Maybe it was just a coincidence or maybe not.
Either way, every time life doesn’t go according to plan, I find myself smiling and remembering that afternoon in Thailand.

It is what it is. 🌊