Pondering the Journey

I like goals, destinations. It is so easy to forget to smell the metaphorical roses along the way. I came across three reminders this week to remember the journey, the path you choose matters.

Laurell K Hamilton, one of my favorite writers, said it most explicitly in her post I Blame Top Gear. She wrote: The problem with being that goal oriented is that you forget to enjoy the journey. You not only don’t stop to smell the roses, but you stop seeing them along the road, and you rush past, because you have somewhere to go, and a deadline chasing you.

Clay started me thinking about this earlier this week with his post indeed, why ask why? I write about Clay’s words often. Perhaps it is because we are the same age and both spent our formative years in the same small town in NJ. We’ve never met in person and yet his words so often resonate with me. I keep coming back to this: We want to live on purpose.

Finally, the auto-biographical story How Did I Get Here? of a newly minted PhD in his mid-40’s caught my attention. The author, who has led an interesting and non-traditional life, closed with these words:  Second, sometimes "what the heck" is the right answer. Take life by the horns and have some fun. If things don’t work out, it’s never too late to try something new.

Sometimes only the path matters.