A Fork in the Road

Will You Choose "the one less traveled by"?

I’ve been feeling rather uninspired in recent days and just by chance someone randomly posted one of Robert Frost’s most well-known poems which also happens to be one of my favorites.  It popped up on my Facebook feed of all places which just goes to show that not all social media is worthless.  But that’s a topic for another blog post. 

As I read Frost’s beautiful description of a scene in nature that I can picture perfectly, I thought about the two paths and were I at that fork in the road, how would I go about choosing which path to take?  And if I managed to make that decision, what would have happened if I had taken the other path?  In life as we encounter these divergent paths, they are not necessarily one good and one bad, they are just different.  We don’t always get all the information we would need to make a truly informed decision about the direction we should go, so we just have to say a prayer, follow our hearts and choose. 

I’ve not had any deep regrets about paths I have chosen, but I do sometimes wonder about the “what ifs” if I had picked the alternative route.  In some of these “forks” in my life, I took the time to listen for guidance, consider my options and ponder potential outcomes.  But if I am to be honest, sometimes I just dove headlong down the path of least resistance or the one that appealed for a temporal reason.  Sometimes I chose well and sometimes the path I picked had something to teach me about impulsive decisions. 

What if I had tried out for the drill/dance team in high school that I had secretly considered instead of following what my friends were into?  Would I have had a whole different friend circle and high school experience?  What if I had taken that scholarship and stayed in Montana for university instead of moving to Oregon?  I know for a fact I wouldn’t have been married to my husband for the last 45 years.  What if I had taken that different job offer twenty years ago instead of where I landed?  I would have worked alongside very different people and traveled a lot more.  What if I had said “no” to moving farther away from our town than I ever thought I wanted to live?  I wouldn’t have had so many years of a place I love and all the memories built there.  What if I hadn’t quit my job two years ago and started writing again?  I would have missed out on meeting a whole community of amazing people and all the joy that this little creative adventure has brought me.

Photo credit: Chattanooga Sun

When you read Frost’s poem and look at this photo, which path would you choose?  What would be different about your life if you had wandered down the other path?  What would be the process you would use to choose?  Would you seek advice or just follow your heart?  Forks in the road can be big or small, obvious or obscured. Like Frost, perhaps “the one less traveled by” will make all the difference.