After spending nearly a week in beautiful Costa Rica, it’s back to the daily grind of interviewing, photographing and writing. Having a job I look forward to has helped ease the transition, but only a bit.

I must say, it was difficult to trade in the warm sun for the dim glow of a laptop and leave the monkeys and mimosas behind, but there is one thing special I was able to bring back: pura vida.

Pura vida isn’t a tropical infectious disease, nor is it something I had to declare at customs.

Pura vida is a Costa Rican phrase, a way of life really, that has been translated to mean full of life, this is living, going great or real living.

Essentially, the phrase evokes a spirit that is carefree, laid back and optimistic: the Costa Rican way.

It is Costa Rica’s official motto, and can be found on nearly any item available for purchase — t-shirts, mugs, magnets, etc.

Both a greeting and a farewell, a response indicating things are great, a thank you and an expression of gratitude, pura vida says it all.

I was all at once surrounded by the foreign phrase that less than a week ago meant absolutely nothing to me; however, I caught myself thinking about those two words more and more as the week progressed.

Pura vida certainly was more than a phrase in Costa Rica. You could see it everywhere, from the cab diver who picked us up from the airport and the one who took us back to each and every server, cashier and guide in between.

These people may not have had much, but they were full of life. They shared smiles and laughs with us readily and consistently.

It was an inspiration — and a reality check — to see what a group of people dedicated to a casual, happy lifestyle had established in their culture.

The feeling was infectious. We too got caught up in living the pura vida lifestyle. Now that we’re back, I’m making at active effort to bring the Costa Rican spirit back to the U.S. with me.

I hope to make a more focused attempt at letting things go, choosing my battles wisely and finding serenity daily.

If we as a community make active choices to be more carefree, laid back and optimistic, imagine the positive impact we could have in Vicksburg and Warren County.

Here’s to pura vida, and here’s to living life the Costa Rican way, no matter where we are.

Although, I suppose if the feeling of pura vida ever starts slipping, paradise is only a flight away.

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Austin Vining is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. Email comments to austin.vining@vicksburgpost.com