The Long Long Road - There to Make Us or Break Us

Somewhere in our life we all arrive at a place where it seems like time stands still; the road appears too long, the journey too difficult to continue. Is it worth it; is there any reason to keep moving forward? "What's in this for us," we ask ourselves? Even though we have no choice but to proceed, life has begun to feel like we are climbing the rough side of a mountain. Why then have we allowed our steps to veer off to such a path?

Most people don't choose to exit the highway of happiness and make a left turn that says 'rough passage ahead'. The toughest choices are made for us and are sometimes unavoidable. We lose a job, a partner, even a simple visit to the doctor where we learn we are heading into a tunnel that may or may not have a light at the end of it... there are so many reasons we can find ourselves climbing what feels like a never-ending uphill passage, always searching for the plateau where we can gather our bearings and see exactly where we have arrived.

Even though life sometimes feels nightmarish, we are all living our dream. When things seem unbearable and we can't see the end of it, the challenge we have called to us is before us. Do we choose to make it or allow it to break us, to force us back to a path that was more familiar even if more painful ultimately? It is here that we determine whether it is a punishment or a payoff!

We are never really broken, even though it may feel like it at times. We are experiencing growing pains that allow us to break through barriers that have prevented us from moving forward on that highway we were traveling. There is something to learn here; something for now or something we need to know down the road. You are here for a reason. Be still; wait for it, wait for the fog to clear.

If you choose to bemoan the fates that brought you here and ignore the opportunity to grow and learn from the experience, for you it will always be a punishment. If you choose instead to stand up and see what is before you that you can learn and grow from that you can take away from the situation, you are in line for the big payoff. Life is all about choices. You may not have chosen the situation but you will always choose your response to it.

Looking back the big story will never be about where the path turned but about how you maneuvered the twists and turns and where it ultimately took you. You choices will always be the determining factor about how your story will be told.