Roads

What kind of road are you on?

Have you ever considered your life as if your are travelling down a road? Are you walking barefoot, in hiking boots, or jogging in your favorite pair of runners? Maybe you imagine riding with the top down in a cherry red convertible? Or is it a lifted dark blue truck with those big, knobby wheels? Or maybe you see yourself in a sleek, silver sedan? Whether you are on foot, riding a bike, on horseback, in a sports car, think back to the road you have been on and the road that still lies ahead, did you imagine all you have been through and can you picture what may lie ahead?

I know looking back I could never imagine still standing, still remaining, still being able to say I am here, present, and ready to face today, knowing the road I have been on. I look back and think this surely cannot be my life, this must have happened to some one else or maybe to multiple people, not just to me. It feels surreal at times.

I think of an ideal road as straight, freshly paved, smooth, a clear destination and road signs clearly marking the way. How do you imagine your own road to appear?

If I were to imagine my road, I would think the construction workers were on a week-long drunken binge of the hard stuff. The straight line turned not-so-straight as soon as it started, the concrete wasn’t quite mixed all the way in some areas, over poured in other areas, and completely forgotten in others. Rocks remained in place, easier to work into the path than to remove I guess? Mud, trees, sand- figure it out girly because the path leads that-a-way and these are part of the landscape. Sure, there are moments of yellow, sunflower fields and the brightest, blue oceans to breathe in the pure air and savor peace, but then the road turns again with a big fuck you and another rock to move. I want to scream this isn’t fair but shit, life isn’t fair and there isn’t a damn thing to do about it.

Have you pictured your road? More rocks and potholes or oceans and sunflowers? Are you coming up to a fork or do you see a dead end? Maybe it’s time to alter course, pull into the next station, and try something new?

As much as life isn’t fair or our roads can be so completely fucked, we have a new opportunity each day to decide enough, I’m no longer going to take this road. I’m setting a new goal, these are the steps I need to take, and my new course. It may not happen overnight, may take years, but You are changing your course, your direction.

Set new goals, try a new activity, meet someone new, there are so many ways to expand your journey and gain support along the way. It’s good to look back and see the road you have been on but remember to look ahead and see where you want to go. You can’t change the road already walked, but you can change the road ahead. Believe in yourself, give in to your goals, and remember each day is a new day to start again.