Crossroads

Sometimes you get to a place in your life when you feel like you’re standing at a crossroads and don’t know which way to go.  Robert Frost encouraged us to take the road less traveled, but sometimes that’s easier said than done.

You know what you want to do—like write that sit come script—but you just don’t have time.  You know if you quit your job, you’d have the time to do all the things you don’t have the time and energy to do right now.  But then what?  You wouldn’t have the security of a steady paycheck, and your kids wouldn’t have health insurance.

You don’t want to let anybody down.  So you stay in your rut, and it becomes deeper.  So deep, in fact, that you feel like there’s no way to climb out.  You get discouraged as you watch the days, weeks, months, and years slip away.  And there’s no way to get them back.

You look in the future and there’s not much to look forward to except maybe that short vacation when you can get a respite from your everyday life and do things that are fun and exciting.  But you know that it’s only temporary, and before long, you will be back to the grind.

So many of us give so much of our productive time to things we don’t enjoy doing.  We eat things that are good for us instead of things we enjoy.  We walk on the treadmill, so that we can measure how many calories we have burned instead of going on a leisurely walk in nature, where we can hear the birds chirp, feel the wind on our skin, and smell the flowers.  Doing what we have to do instead of what we want to do is just no fun.

Sure, we can try to make things more fun.  We can listen to music when we work out or do chores.  We can listen to that inspirational book or podcast on our commute.  And those are helpful.  But that doesn’t change the fact that we all have to do things that we don’t want to do.

And what about us taking the joy out of our own lives because we’re worried about what other people will think?  How many of us are willing to sing at the top of our lungs (somewhere other than the shower) offkey when someone else will hear and criticize us?  And are we willing to freely dance when other people are watching, and we might look like a fool?  But if we don’t, are we preventing ourselves from fully enjoying our lives?

It seems like every day we’re presented with crossroad opportunities to either enjoy our lives fully by doing exactly what we want to do or to do what other people want us to do or what we feel what have to do based on other people’s expectations or the fact that others are counting on us.  It’s a terrible choice to have to make.  One is full of risk and the other seems safe, but it comes with the risk of losing ourselves.

Today I encourage you to do at least one thing that will make you happy.  I think that’s a good starting point, and maybe tomorrow you can do two things.  Then, hopefully, before you know it, your whole day is filled with things you love to do, and you will be one of the few who is truly living the happy life we all deserve.

Joke:  Whenever I end up on the road less traveled, I know I’m lost. 

Quote:  “Every day is a crossroads.  Every day is a chance to change your life for the better” – Hillary Clinton

Advice:  Any road can be the right road if you are happy with the journey.