How's Your Journey?

The Journey - Mary Oliver


One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

This poem has a fantastic message for us all - it sums up to me how many of the clients I speak to seem to be feeling - especially currently in these testing times. They feel that not only is there more out there to be experienced but also that they have more inside to give to their own journey. Yet those "voices around you kept shouting their bad advice" - the challenge is to stay true to yourself and those feelings that you hold dear about what you can achieve in life. It can be daunting even overwhelming to go against the forces wanting you to stay where you are.

The challenge is to ensure you are still on the journey you want to be taking not the one that is being designed by others. Be true to yourself and it will be easier to be true to others.

Have a great weekend.
Craig