I have always been fascinated by forks in the road. You know those things. No, not dinnerware you may stumble upon in your path. Those key turning points or even not so key decisions you may make every day. Do I stay in this job or leave it? Should I have the surgery or just take meds? Do I love this person or not? Do I want to get involved in this club or activity or put my feet up and stay home and watch TV? In turbulent economic times with jobs, foreclosures, and paying bills we probably find more forks to deal with than we care to.
In the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost he concludes by saying to take the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Kind of a trailblazer guy that Mr. Frost.
I personally with my humorous self like Yogi Berra's take on this. When you come to the fork in the road, take it.
Some say each decision moves you closer toward happiness or away from it. This makes sense on the surface but my observations of life counter this one often.
Say you build this beautiful house down a lovely country lane. Then for the next year they mess up your life with widening that road to your front door.
You thought you had it made. Life was good. Life was peachy. Then what? They moved your cheese again. So new forks appear all the time. Change is dominant, forceful, ever present, and you just can't escape it.
So the key thing to learn from the forks in the road you are presented each time? It isn't always about which fork you take, but your reaction to it. Your reaction to the change offered up to you. Do you cope well with a change and then make the best decision you can "at the time?" The reason I bring up at the time, because you are not going to get all these decisions on the forks right. I think Yogi Berra was onto something here. A former Yankees catcher may know more than a poet.
Trust your instincts. Make the best decisions you can. But above all check that attitude of yours when change slaps you in the face now and then. That reaction of YOU and how you handle a situation is more important than even the decision.
May most of your forks lead you to many very pleasant dining experiences in life. Pass the cherry pie please. I have a fork here to deal with.
Hi Gary:
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