Traveling Into The Unknown: By Choice Or By Chance
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.- Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken)
I’ve seen this quote used for everything from graduation speeches to biography voice-overs and from travel blogger videos to ‘motivational’ corporate retreats. It has become cliché as people use it in an attempt to inspire grandiose visions of the future or as self-centered declarations of greatness.
But even for all the bashing, there’s something to be said about the choice of going against the norm, running counter to traditions, or curiously creating your own path.
Whether in the context of Silicon Valley’s next big disruptor or the second generation immigrant child being the leader of firsts for the family, making that daunting choice is brave.
That moment of contemplation, of spinning out, of trying to calculate every possible scenario and outcome of this decision in hopes that you’re making the “right” move. Or that moment of knowing you’re going into the unknown, perhaps less willingly than you’d like, nervously but with focused determination.
To me, where the poem “The Road Not Taken” ends is where the real journey begins. The twists and turns of figuring it out as you go. The lessons learned through setbacks and seasons of doubt. The pause to catch your breath while you either look back at how far you come and the path you’ve worn for those to follow or while you look forward to how much further you have to forge ahead. Listening to the sounds that surround you as you walk alone, contemplating if it was worth it.
And isn’t really only at the end of it all, coming out of the woods, where you can reflect, sigh, and say, “yeah, that has made all the difference….”?
I’m not out of the woods yet in my decision of staying in the States or moving back to the islands (or abroad). In my decision of pursuing a PhD in philosophy or not. In my decision of climbing the corporate ladder or pursuing entrepreneurship. In my decision of continuing to build on the familiar rubble of trauma or throwing a therapy bomb and starting from a clean slate. In my decision of peanut butter and jelly or pb and Nutella (that counts as a big life decision at 2am, okay?!)
I truly don’t know which of these paths is “right” and if that even matters because ultimately, the destination is the same, even if there are a million ways to get there. And friends, let me tell you… spoiler alert, we all have the same destination, one way or the other. Maybe it’s not about the paths we take within our lives but that life itself, as a whole, is the road less traveled - and we each make all the difference.
This is me both exploring AND holding myself accountable as part of a 7-day writing challenge by Cole Schafer. He coughs up a prompt and suggests writing for 45 minutes, editing for 10, then posting. So, here we are… Welcome to my wacky week!
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