Frequently in the past I have viewed life, balancing life, as similar to balancing on a tightrope. If I don’t do it just right, I’ll fall to my doom. Or at the very least I’ll fall and have to start all over again. Perhaps you have thought that way as well? At least sometimes? We have a great deal of pressure on us to do things “just right.” And most of that pressure comes from ourselves.
I have come to realize that balancing life is more like taking a hike. There are paths we can follow, or we can hike cross-country without following a path. We can follow the same paths as others, or we can find, or create, our own path. We can choose a path that is risky, or one that is safer. If we fall, we can get back up again and continue hiking. It won’t be the end of the world.
If we choose a path, we can venture off the path and come back to it later. We can choose a new path. We can choose a new path and later go back to the old path. Or at any time we can choose not to follow a path.
We can also choose to stop hiking for a bit and stop to enjoy where we are.
Our options are limitless, and they are ours. Good options for others might not be good options for us. And that’s okay. Good options for us might not be good options for others, and that’s okay, too.
I think it’s important that we determine which path is best for us based upon our desired destination and the journey we want to take to get there. And I think it’s important that we respect other people’s choices on what is best for them even though their choices are not what we would choose for ourselves. As long as we do no harm, it doesn’t matter which path we take.
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