The Road Never Before Traveled

          Anyone who’s taken high school English knows “The Road Less Traveled.”  Important choices, Robert Frost, one clear and breezy path, one rooty and dark path, etc.  In class, I remember discussing how the easy path makes boring, unchallenged people and the trickier path makes inspired, happier people.  Then the bell would ring for my next class and I would continue to be manhandled into a traditional, rule-following, white collar-destined person bound to a diploma, college, marriage, kids, career, retirement, death. 

            In truth, I am satisfied with the notion of experiencing all of these stages, but I have decided that I need to do it on my own terms.  That begins with rethinking everything.  There has never been a lifestyle designed to precisely fit my personality, so it would be unfair to my existence to recycle anyone else’s.  It is my challenge to create a personal biosphere, and I already have some ideas about where to start.  1.  I need a habitat that allows me to be synched with nature.  Sunlight should ribbon through my window when I wake up in the morning (unless its cloudy), and I should be able to experience the awesomeness of a forest or a river to chastise me whenever I am feeling too smug about the beauty of my existence.  2.  I need the company of someone who I love.  We should to be able to support each other without constricting our personal independence.  We should never have to be ashamed of how much we love each other, and we should never have to lie when our feelings change.  3.  I need to have enough quietness to be able to reflect.  Being I writer, I cannot produce anything worth reading without making a discovery about myself.  I should have a place and time when I am not bothered by others.  4.  I need to be busy with activities that always lead me towards a more meaningful and happy lifestyle.  Otherwise, I will fill my life up with unimportant “obligations” that waste the significance of my existence.  I should set myself up to make charity, gentleness, and understanding habit, not circumstance. 

            Now that I have arranged my priorities (which are changing by the second), I am already aiming myself towards a life that I desire, not just one that I can accept.  I hope that my life will prove that traditions (even pleasant ones) give people a limited view of their options.  I do plan to take a road less traveled, and I expect there to be some rocky ledges and prickly grass in it, but I’m not going to choose a dark path for the sake of having some gloominess in my life.  Instead, I want a path that will let me trip and fall in a gross, leafy mud puddle, and know it was totally worth the trouble.  That, I am sure, is what will make all the difference.