The Fork In The Road

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The road less traveled. The high road. The long and winding road. There are all kinds of roads that we must all travel in our lives. Sometimes we cruise on along, smooth sailing with nary a bump or a curve. Other times we chug up steep hills, or brake down endlessly long inclines, or creep around hairpin turns. No matter the situation, we keep moving. Sometimes we charge ahead full speed, other times we slow down and enjoy the drive. But we always keep moving.

As children we move along these roads hitched to our parents or care-givers, following where they go. As we get older, we are allowed to drive ourselves and make our own decisions with regard to where we will go, which roads we take, and how quickly we move along. But move along we do. Always moving.

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Along the highways of life are forks, splits, junctions, places where we must make decisions about our destinations and destiny. Exhilaration courses through us as we weigh the pros and cons of which path to continue down. Sometimes the choice seems easy, especially if we’re not inclined to exert the energy necessary to climb, then we descend.

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Sometimes the choice is made for us and we must deal with whatever awaits around the bend. Sometimes pleasant surprises await us, other times, perhaps not. It makes no difference what we encounter so long as we keep moving. We can go around the obstacle, we can climb over the obstacle, we can try to move the obstacle, but we keep doing something to get us farther down the path. Every destination, the end of every path, has a new opportunity waiting.

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Not too long ago I came to a fork in my road. I weighed my options and made my decision. I would take the high road, the steep narrow one that would ultimately test my endurance, but certainly offered an abundance of rewards at the end. I prepared for my journey and planned my course, determined to set out fully prepared to conquer whatever awaited me along the path. But then I hit a roadblock. A big one. One that seems insurmountable at times. I’m spinning my wheels. Should I turn around and try the other road? That seems silly since I’ve come so far down this one already and I’m super excited about where I’ll end up. But maybe there are no obstacles on the other road. Both roads lead somewhere. Both roads offer unexplored opportunities waiting to be discovered.

So here I sit, not moving. Not going forward or backward, just staring at the obstacle in the road. I’m stumped. I’ve tried various ways to triumph over the roadblock, but I have been unsuccessful.

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I’m not one to give up, but when is it time to concede and either forge a new path or turn around and try another way? I don’t know. I’m still sitting here pondering.

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What do you do readers when things don’t go quite as planned? When you made a decision only to find it may not have been the best decision? How do you get around roadblocks?

Word of the Day:  Quassia

Fun Fact About Me:  I play a mean tambourine.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, June 2015. Photos courtesy Google Images.

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Really?

 

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I got the idea for this post a couple of weeks after reading a post on Phil, “The Regular Guy, NYC,s,” blog about laughing at winter morons in the big apple. Here’s the link if you want to check it out: http://blog.theregularguynyc.com/karma-schadenfreude-and-laughing-at-winter-morons-in-nyc/

So often these days I find myself saying, “really?” As in, “Did I really just hear you say that?” or “You aren’t really going to do that?” Of course, that is a rhetorical question because obviously the answer is yes, otherwise I wouldn’t even need to be questioning the stupid activity.

For instance, on my morning commute there is almost always some idiot — usually more than one — on the road who gets the rolling-eyed question, “Really?” You know who these people are; the person driving 50 mph in the slow lane with a string of 100 cars behind them. Then after you merge into the fast lane to pass them, they speed up to about 95. You know who I’m talking about. You get up next to them, doing about 80 in an attempt to go past them and they just keep going faster. Really?

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Or the opposite, some bozo who goes flying past you about 85, then pulls over in front of you and slows down to 60. Really? WTF?

And then this: Last week I had a few extra minutes one morning (because obviously I must have forgotten to do something before I left the house), so I decided that if, when I got to Starbuck’s, there wasn’t a line at the drive through, I’d pull in and pick up some breakfast. Eureka! Luck was on my side, only one car at the ordering window! I swung in there followed immediately by a big ole SUV, thus trapping me in. No worries, I’m the second car in line. Won’t take long at all.

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Wrong. So, so wrong my friends. As car number one was taking forever to order at the speaker sign thingey, I muttered to myself, “please know what you to order before getting in line.” Well dear readers, it turns out this woman did know what she wanted. She also knew what 27 other people wanted, as I found out at the pick-up window, where she got so many drinks she had to get out of her car to stack them in the back seat. And then — here’s the kicker — she wanted to pay for each order separately. REALLY!!!!! No freaking way?

So much for my few extra minutes. I was now going to be 10 minutes late. Holy venti mocha lattes, what the heck are people thinking? I mean — really?

What craziness drives you to the point of — really? What activities make you scratch your head, squint your eyes and want to bang your forehead on something really hard?

Word of the Day: Buccal

Fun Fact About Me:  I love Chinese food.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, February 2015. Photos courtesty Google Images.

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