The Road Less Travelled By

11 Mar

“I took the road less travelled by”…. #robertfrost

This year, like many people I know and love, my life has been upended. A massive “No Through Road’ sign appeared on the road I’d always travelled.

Throughout my life, one of the things I’ve found most helpful when I need to ‘find myself’ – is first to get lost. Really lost.

At those times of overwhelming confusion and doubt, I take a solo trip. No-one else. Just me.

Even before I leave home, my pulse quickens and my imagination takes flight. The moment I arrive, it happens. Against the backdrop of new noises, unfamiliar smells, and sounds, and under a different sky, a clear definition of myself begins to take shape. I have become very aware of who I am.

With sharpened focus, I’m able to see what’s important and what less so. I’m able to sit without familiar distractions and listen to that still small voice calling me home. Sometimes it’s a whisper, but in the silence, I hear it.

This time it is calling me home by another way. A new unexpected way, unknown and unfamiliar. I am not prepared and I am scared. But I know the voice well; I’ve heard it many times before and I’ve learned to trust more.

I now try and find a place for calm, clarity and peace. Quieten the mental noise of modern life and consider that meaning and purpose may be found by another way.

Many things can throw us off course, particularly at mid-life, that age when our foundations aren’t as secure as we thought they were, but what if it’s ‘the course’ that’s wrong and the road diversions that are right?

I’m still a long way from home and I don’t really know the way. But one thing I do know is I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.