The Path Will not Always be Clear

I have always been quietly competitive. Seems a contradiction but it's been my reality so I know. Many times I'd rather be seen and not heard, but I have never not wanted to do my best. Oh, yes, at times I have not cared as much as I could have, or should have, but for the most part I have really pushed myself to be the best that I can be. I guess subconsciously I realized early on that life was not meant to be lived without effort....that very little that is attained without effort is ever worth it. I knew that to merely go through the motions of every-day life was to invite and embrace mediocrity, yet as quiet and reserved as I have tended to be, I have never wanted to be mediocre.

Strangely, I have not always known what I wanted to do, what I wanted to be or where I wanted to go. I just knew that it was not acceptable to be stagnant. At times I have felt like my life was a whirlwind (yeah I have known what it is to feel like a dog chasing its tail), going where I was unsure of, and many times kinda out of my control. It made me uncomfortable for a while. I wanted to be in control, to know where the paths would take me, to mark the milestones along the way....to be able to tell someone the exact distance and time between landmarks. But I soon found out that the path is not always clear; that the 'obvious' way is not necessarily the best way and that the shortest distance between two points is not always that straight road. Many times, indeed, you'll feel like you're spinning on your heels. And maybe you will be. But know this, you will find later on that your spinning spirals...leading you to a higher place....a place of self discovery, personal development and opportunities you only dared dream of.

 There are precious few who can honestly tell you that the paths they initially chose are the ones they ended up walking. There are even less who can say that the path has been straight or clear. They have had detours, their journey has been obscured by the fog of huge disappointments and monumental setbacks, Many times they have disembarked, or for those who stayed on board, felt surrounded by a sea of sharks. But always they kept in the back of their heads that to cease movement is to accept the robe of 'normal'or  'average'. And normal is very rarely a feature of the lives of the purposeful or successful among us.

So move ahead. Get involved. Do something to change your circumstance. Do not be content to take life as it comes at you. Make your mark, Make your change, even if you do not know where the paths will take you. Do not be content to stay where you are. Move confidently ahead, knowing full well that however many times the road turns, the experiences gained on the way to fulfilling your dreams, on this path of self-discovery, will redound to the benefit of something bigger than your self. Keep moving!