I’m looking at another of my quote images in this article, and it could be a bendy trip…
I took that photo down at Lyme Regis in Dorset. I’d gone there for a few days away, and had fun taking photos of both the sunrise and the sunset.
That particular picture was taken late evening. If I’m honest I would have preferred the sky to be clearer and the sun to be setting more directly behind the harbour wall, but no matter how hard I shouted at the sun, it wasn’t moving my way!
So, I got up on top of the wall, made famous in the film ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ and went for the low angle shot to see what I could come up with.
I like the way the wall bends and slopes and curves, and as I thought of words put over the top, I wanted something to do with the path of life we travel, and the words of Goldie Hawn came to mind…
You often meet your fate on the road you took to avoid it.
Goldie Hawn has come up with some great quotes over the years. She has been around for a long time, from her early days as the typical ‘quirky girl’ comic, through the Hollywood years and on, it’s still the case that merely being around for that long in the industry is notable for a woman (that’s a whole different article!)
I do like this quote of hers though, because not only is it easy to find yourself nodding your head at it, in fact it’s harder *not* to nod your head at at!
The road of life will have bends in it, of that there’s no doubt. We will come to forks where we have to make a definite choice, one way or the other. We will have the curves that we ride as we journey along, and some of them will be steep curves.
Some of them will make us uncomfortable with the steepness, we might find ourselves hanging on and wanting it all to level out.
That’s part of life.
We’ll take trips and stumbles as we go along, sometimes we might fall and graze our knee, sometimes we might fall and break a bone. Sometimes to the side of the road it’s nice soft grass to ease our fall. Sometimes, as with this photo, it might be the big old sea, and we most certainly *don’t* want to be falling that way!
Ok, that’s probably enough with the path analogies, but they do show why the quote is worthy of consideration…
I did mention the forks in the road, those moments of choice we have in our lives. We could make these choices from a position of positivity, of picking our direction because that’s the way we want to go.
That’s the way I think it should be, but what tends to happen more often, is that we choose from a position of negativity – picking our direction to avoid something rather than because we want to.
That’s the point in the quote.
We will move along the path of life whether we want to or not. Time will not wait for little old you or me.
Now, whether you believe in the concept of ‘fate’ or not, is probably something for another article, but let’s use the world ‘result’ instead – you often meet your result on the road you took to avoid it…
So am I saying that we should never make choices to avoid bad things..?
No. Oh no, I’m not saying that at all.
Sometimes it’s clear that we need to make a choice to avoid or move away from a bad thing. There’s nothing wrong with that.
What I’m focusing on though, is the position we come from as we make our life choices *in general*.
Are we starting from a position of negativity, of always assuming the worst, of thinking that life is all about avoiding things, that the idea is to keep our head down as much as possible and muddle through?
So many do start from that position, and it comes from a combination of fear of change and/or risk, or simply not wanting to put in the effort. The status quo is much more comfortable, right?
Well, not always, no.
That status quo might seem comfortable, but in the long term it will turn uncomfortable, because we’ll know that we’re not living in line with the real us, our passions, our joys. If we do that, we might have avoided the dangers of change and risk, but we’ve walked straight into a future danger of a life unfulfilled.
That’s the danger, that’s the result we get by trying to avoid it.
If the bumps, the trials, the curves will come our way anyway, even if we try to avoid challenges, (and they will), then isn’t it better to take them head on, knowing that we’re meeting them from a position of intention?
If we make positive choices, moving in the direction *we* want, then not only are we mentally more willing to deal with the random challenges of life, but we know we’re progressing towards something that we want, rather than focusing on what we want to avoid.
So, look to the road you’re on in your life. Is it a path you chose? Did you choose it avoid something, or did you choose it from positivity. When you come to the definite forks, bear this in mind when you make your choice, and even if you’re not at a fork,you can change direction!
You might need to back up the road, maybe a bit or maybe a long way, but it can be done.
It might not be easy, but it can be done. And of course, if you don’t feel there *is* currently a road leading to where you want to be, maybe it’s time for you to start building a new road yourself!
Choices, direction, intention, it all comes down to you, so remember to consider Goldie Hawn’s words – you often meet your fate on the road you took to avoid it.
Ok, as ever, I’d love to hear your thoughts – do leave a comment!
‘Til Next Time,
Health & happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you’d like some more guidance picking your path, pop over and watch my free video series covering the 8 Step Goal Achievement Formula!
