When you wake up every day and think about what you have become and the experiences that you have had, you often come to the realization that your life hasn’t quite turned out as you would have liked. And I suppose that this is one of the things that makes it unique and full of surprises. We do our part to set goals, work towards achieving them and then pray to God to help them become a reality.
But then this reality is often in stark contrast to what we hoped we would achieve. The truth is that life happens as we are experiencing and living it up! We should have goals, ambitions and big dreams and we should strive within our individual capacity to fulfill them; alas when this fails we shouldn’t give up in living our lives the best way we know how.
Men dread the fact that they are losing hair, others are getting a pot belly and their peers are embracing fatherhood and being a daddy! Women are having sleepless nights thinking about when they will meet Mr. Right, when they will walk down the isle in that glamorous wedding dress and have someone to call them ‘mommy’ or Mrs. so and so. Those in their 40’s are thinking about moving away from employment and being self-employed and managing their debts. Those who finished high school are thinking about going to college or university, while those in college or university are already tired of it and planning out how they will secure their first job or an apprenticeship to gain new skills and the list continues….. on what we want to achieve out of our lives.
In my own experience, I have come to accept that what we plan for our lives may not happen as we anticipated but when we look back, we will see in it a guiding hand in all the decision making process. Be it a friend, a parent, a spouse, a colleague or a priest. When this happens, we will beam with a smile in gratitude for what we have managed to achieve and the individual we have become. Life creates seasons, reasons, prisons and is composed of daily decisions. Let us learn to cherish each and every day as it comes, learning to move away from the past and not to dwell too much on what the future may or may not bring. Don’t be self condescending, judgmental and too hard on your self if you have made poor choices in the past, move forward with your life and make the necessary adjustments so that you can have a hopeful, optimistic and joyous future!
Do the things that will improve your health and happiness. These include praying, exercising, getting plenty of rest, eating healthy, smiling, reading one book once a month and seeking out others who are in less privileged circumstances and helping them out. The good old book teaches that you ‘gain’ your life when you ‘lose’ it in a bigger and better cause and you truly lose your life when you focus inwardly.
I conclude with these inspiring words by Robert Frost: ‘The road not taken’
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo 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 thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn 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 sighSomewhere 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.