Wrong choices - disastrous results. But how to know?
Such moments are not what you might call, "fun". In fact, they can be miserable experiences, involving ripping change. Yet, a choice must be made, lest you go mad from enduring another instant of things as they are. As M. Scott Peck put it in The Road Less Traveled and Beyond, "The truth is that our finest moments, more often than not, occur precisely when we are uncomfortable, when we're not feeling happy or fulfilled, when we're struggling and searching."
What to do?
If you are at a crossroads, chances are you're faced with a couple of options. One is easy. The other is, well... hard.One is 'comfortable;' the other is really 'hanging out there.' One choice is 'safe'; the other loaded with risk. Which to choose? Only you can decide. The best insight you can possibly gain comes from inside... from that "still small voice."All you need do is simply listen... really listen... and then have the guts to decide. While you're doing so, consider this: Your rewards in life are in direct proportion to your level of risk.
The world is full of easy choices... and so go the masses... like so many lemmings, rushing one after the other to the edge of the sea. Onto whatever lies in waiting for the dull, the listless, the complacent...those who have given up or given in. A rut leading on... beyond their horizons. It takes guts to leave the pack behind, to climb out and do something different... to do the thing you really want to do... that which you're really meant to do. But you can. All you need to do is decide.
In his poem, "The Road Not Taken," Robert Frost blessed us with:
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."
You know, in the road less traveled... there aren't any ruts.
Choosing your own path? Well... it takes courage. It takes resolve. It invokes tremendous internal accountability. But the reward, irrespective of whether it shows up in wealth, fame, fortune, or the distinct lack of all of these, will richly bless you with that for which all greatly yearn - peace of mind. Through such choices and such acts you will be transformed.
Do what you will. Do what you ought. Make the tough choice... and stick with it. Make it because it's the right choice... for you. You will be met (as Thoreau put it) with a success unexpected in common hours.
