I’m just back from four days cycling in the Netherlands and Belgium and I’m on a cyclist’s high. Those countries (but especially the Netherlands) are like a cyclists fairytale. It’s totally flat (yahoo!) and there are bike paths EVERYWHERE. Wherever you want to get to, there is a cycle path, often through beautiful countryside and nowhere near cars. They’re signposted and well kept and oh so glorious!
I may still be on a sugar high from all the Snickers bars I had, or it could be the endorphins.
Anyway……..
With a lot of time on the bike, I had a lot of time for thinking. Sure there were moments of blissful presence but there were also a lot of whirring thoughts! And all these paths and choices got me reminiscing about the pick-a-path books of my youth. I loved those books and I’d have fingers in various parts of the book trying to work out which path would take me to the best ending. There would be flipping back and forward and trying to remember where each one would lead me, but usually I’d run out of fingers and just have to make a choice and see where it ended up.
As I cycled along I started seeing similarities between those books and life in general. Because life has so many different paths and endings and ways to get to the same place through different means. And so often we are trying to hold all the fingers in the various places and trying to work out where each one will lead. But in the end, we have to remove the hold, choose a path and see where it takes us.
And as the creator of my life story at each branch in the story I get to choose which path I take. I am in control of my story by the actions I take.
I get to design my life by my path choices.
I feel too many people have forgotten that they are in control of their own path. Their own life. Their own adventures. Their own pick-a-path story. They’re looking for others to see which path might be right. They’re hedging bets and keeping fingers in too many pages. They’re afraid of the unknown path or perhaps even unaware that there are other paths to choose. They’ve forgotten that they get to choose their own ending.
If you are feeling at a crossroads or perhaps you feel you’ve been on the same old path for way too long, remember that you get to choose which path to take. You get to choose which page to turn to. You get to decide the next step, and through that you get to decide the ending of your story.
So what page are you going to turn to next?