For several years Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" has greatly influenced the way I live my life.
More specifically, the last three lines have always pushed me to walk boldly, take risks and reach the highest of heights.
The Road Not Taken
By: Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
Now, think...
When faced with the same position as Frost once was, would you take the road less traveled by?
It could make all the difference...
2 comments:
Maybe that explains my life. I never shared the goals my peers accepted as self-evident. Sometimes life gives us a sign that frees us to make uncommon choices. In my case, it was the doctor who told me when I was in my twenties that I might have six months to live. You wouldn't think that was a good thing, but it turned out to be a false diagnosis, and the best part was the way it sharply clarified my perception of what I most wanted to achieve in my life. I think the conventional choices are often for people who take the long view and assume they have time to waste meeting expectations. But I think when I'm 80, I'll look back and feel very grateful to that doctor for pushing my priorities up to forefront when I was young enough to act on the insight.
And thank you Couch Quinn for making me appreciate that!
Ross
Ross, thank you for your comment. I too am thrilled to hear about your "fateful" run in with that doctor. Oddly the idea of death can be one of the strongest motivations to get into action.
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