Life

Life is made up of a series of events and the choices we make at the time of these events determine the path on which we travel. From the day of our birth until we take our last breath, events will occur that will shape our lives. These events, good and bad, internal (affecting you directly) and external (affecting you indirectly), can come as a series or separately. How we react and the decisions we make when handling them determine where we find ourselves. Some people call it luck, or being at the wrong/right place at the wrong/right time - depending on whether it is considered good or bad "luck".

Now as I ponder this question, I look at my life and I know that decisions I made early on in my life has determined where I find myself today. The problem is that should I be honest with myself, I know that I do not like where I find myself. I ask myself how I came to be where I am and what choices I have to make to get to where I want to be. This, however, is not as simple as it may seem. You see, choices we make also create events. These events, in turn, affect not only us but others as well. The question is, do I have the courage or conviction to make the choice and follow through with it, knowing that whatever choice I make will have a cascading effect?

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

"The road not taken" is a poem penned by Robert Frost and ever since I first came across it, it has affected the way I think about my life and the choices I have made. I wonder what it would be like to choose the road less traveled. I ask myself; "What is the road less traveled?" I realise that for different people it will mean many different things. What I do understand is that the road less traveled is, in most cases, the difficult road (decision); the one which does not promise an easy or smooth ride. For most of my adult life I have been doing for others, afraid of disappointing them; this is the easy thing to do, it is what I am most comfortable at doing. For me the road less traveled will be to do something for me; a selfish act where what I want and my own happiness is of primary importance. Once again, the choice to be made is not an easy one so I put this on the backburner and continue to do what is easy for me and forget about my own happiness. I live my life for others so that they can enjoy their lives and I have to ensure that all I am and all I do, meet with their approval so that I know I have pleased them.

For once in my life I want to take the road less traveled. To see what is around the first bend, what is waiting for me over the next horizon.