The Road Taken

As I was out for my morning run a couple of weeks ago, I approached a section in the road in which I needed to make the decision to go left to the tree lined path or up the ramp towards a longer road. This decision is usually pretty easy as it is dependent on the distance I am running, but until that particular day, I had never thought about that third option; the stairs. I had recently posted a few pictures from a recent run and one of those happened to be of some stairs. I remember one of my friends saying, "Tomorrow take the stairs." So I did.

This got me to thinking about the different paths we take in our lives. I couldn't help but think of the famous poem by Robert Frost called 'The Road Not Taken' and out of curiosity I read it again, and this time I noticed something different. I always thought he was happy for choosing the road he did, but if you read it carefully it sounds as though he had doubts over his chosen road.

I know sometimes we may think back on our lives and have regrets, wishing we could have done certain things differently, but the road we take is our own and we should never feel regret over the decisions we make. No one is perfect; we are all going to have a lot of "Oops!" moments in our lives. We are all a bunch of perfectly imperfect people and that is ok. What is important is that we realize the mistakes we have made, learn from them and then move on.

Sometimes, though, there are things we have no control over, but we must learn to be patient, because eventually all struggles will come to an end. Think about a specific moment in your life that brought you joy. Now think about everything that had to happen in order to achieve that joyful time in your life. Were all of those things that brought you to that moment happy or was there some form of struggle to get you to that point?

Finally, in reference to those stairs I first mentioned, never be afraid or too stubborn to take the advice from a friend; sometimes you need guidance from someone else when you are unable to see what is  right in front of you. Sometimes that advice can make all the difference.

Our lives are made up of different stages on this road we choose. Sometimes it's smooth and flat and other times the road is rough and hilly. Never give up when you get to those rough and hilly patches, because you never know what will be over that next hill.

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

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.