Those Less Traveled

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." My Wanderers, (I'm liking the fact that I can address my audience with one "nickname", and it seems to fit. Not to say that I have the answers, but merely to say that we are all lost, no matter what age, sex, or race you may be, we bump into one another on our journey through life we undoubtedly find who we truly are.) we all have our paths that we travel, right? No matter what day it is, we wake up and from there on we continue down our road. Each second ticking in conjunction with our furthering footsteps. 

In our metaphorical path through life, we never rest. Just as time never stops, we continually march on, unable to retreat back to safer times or change the future from the decisions we have already made. We were all born into a life with no do-over switch, backspace key, or white out. However, with this said, we were also born into a life of choices. Two roads diverged in a wood; it is in this moment that we have our choice. Door number one or door number two. The blue pill or the red one. The right choice or the ill choice that can affect the rest of your life. The answers to our choices are not always clear, and at the same time the clearest answers may not always be the right ones. However, left door or right, blue or red, the answer will never be to refrain from action. Let's put it this way. Make a choice! Yes, sometimes the decision we will come to isn't the right one, but that doesn't make us incapable of proceeding. We only learn, and continue marching on. Keep walking. These strides become easier as we go.

I took the one less traveled by. Come to conclusions based on your own volition. Think twice before wandering down the paved streets just because everyone else has done the same. Sometimes the best experiences can be found from wandering. Wandering down paths with untrodden grass and desolate landscapes. We are each wanderers, briskly strutting through life in search of answers. Have you ever heard the saying though "The drive there is half the fun"? Be your own person while wandering. I guarantee you, the life you want is not the one that everyone else has; it is the one that you've yet to create and are holding back from pursuing. Burst from the skin of normalcy and jump into the world of creativity and personal expression. When was it that being an individual became a bad thing? I challenge you my Wanderers, to be yourself. Dare to break the mold and I promise you'll like what you see.

Let's do it! Life is too short for what if's and maybes. Don't let another moment pass you by. Take the roads less traveled by and let's get this world back to a state of harmonizing individuality. You're holding the matchbook; so strike it, and ignite that diminished spark of life. I have faith in you my Wanderers and hunters of life's answers. So what's your move? Ready to get out there and change the world? Remember that baby steps lead to great strides, just as one idea can change the world. Think deep. Create lots. And dare to be you. Yes--I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

 

Picking up the Anchor

Such a fickle world we live in. Starving for attention only to beg for some space in the moments to follow. Always fighting between what we think and what we feel. What we want, what we need. Love is beauty, love is terrifying. How come? How is it that what we want seems to be just past the tips of your fingers as you viciously swing to grasp it? The door swings both ways though. What others seem to desire from you, always seems to be what you cannot contribute back. An inevitable paradox to which life grants us the emotions to handle. Laugh at what you cannot change. Cry at the things outside your control. Grow from the trials that bring you down. Never fear the volatile swing of life as you endure. This too shall pass, as will the others to come.

Murphy's Law is a bit of a pessimistic view of the world around us. It states that "Whatever you want, the world will thusly present you with the exact opposite". Fight it. Fight the notion that the world is cynical and will never give you what you want. The world is just and kind, not malevolent. There are times though that it would appear that this "Law" may not be as ridiculous as one would think. Sometimes it seems as if the only person you want to talk to, never has their phone near by, or is always to busy to catch up. On the flip-side though, the one who is pining for you, that would do anything to call you their own, who worships the ground that you have just retreated from, is the one YOU will make up the excuses to; "My phone died" "Sorry, it's been a long day". Unrequited love is one of the toughest trials to experience. Over analyzing every word that comes flying your way in hopes that there still might be a chance for you yet. We continue torturing ourselves with hope, when in reality, some ships sail.

My question is "Why are you still docked at port?" The world is full of amazing and wonderful experiences. New people to meet, adventures to have, and memories to live. I know it's not easy. Losing love, or worse, loving without being loved back, is painful. Hell, it's detrimental to your being. Think about it this way though. Would life be as much fun if everything just worked out, and you never really had to try? What kind of accomplishment is there in knowing that the world is sitting there for you on a silver platter? It is the art of failing that makes life worth while. To experience loss, only to discover success is the real beauty in living. So failure isn't the end, only the start of the real fun. Like I've said before, we are all human and believe me, mistakes are in our DNA. So give it your all. Accept defeat (if it should happen) and let's get to the good part already.

Oh my Wanderers, flying through open water, docked at port, or lost at sea, take note of this metaphor. We are all in our boats. Better to sail with fear of sinking, then to never leave the shore. Fear nothing. Go out there and live your life. Feel the rush of spontaneity and the wonderment of life. Let me put it to you this way. If you want to be sad, live in the past. If you want to be anxious, live in the future. But if you want to be at peace, live in the now. Time is ticking and it won't wait for you to get your thoughts together. So make your move. Today is the day. Ready to pick up that anchor? Good. Now let's get out to sea.

The Wanderers

Let's take into account all of the emotions that we experience in our lives. We dwell on happiness, anger, fear, regret, but above all love. L is for the way you look at me, right? Or maybe, O is for the only one I see? Possibly. The desire to be "in love" or "why doesn't he love me?" constantly ringing in our ears or exclaimed from our mouths. On this one day of the year, the lovebirds get to flap there wings cheerfully in each others presence, while the rest of us sit here and dwell on the loneliness and jealousy. Why is it that we can't be happy for others and say to ourselves "That's what I'm gonna have one day"? Instead we sit here and mock the people who are so infatuated with each other; however, even then it makes us sick.

Which brings me to my point. Smile. Everyone has something to be upset about, yes. Whether it be a recent break-up, dealing with rejection, or watching the love of your life walk away with someone else. We all need to remember to look for the silver lining! Remember in Elementary School how exciting Valentine's Day was? This was the one day where you got your construction paper and bedazzled shoe box and got candy and notes from all of your classmates. A sad reminder that we are all moving on and getting older now, but then, this was a bright eyes moment for us all. Yet fear not my fellow Wanderers...we are all cut from the same branch and we will find our companion some day. It is just in the mean time that we must remind ourselves of how good we actually have it.

Live in the moment. Take in each day and celebrate the fact that we are alive and kicking, because I'll tell you what. Life is too short to dwell on the inadequacies of others. See the brightness in everything you do, and your day will shine just as bright. If your version of Valentine's day is a carton of Ben and Jerry's and the Notebook, then have at it. Instead though, we could smile on the people we do love, and don't always appreciate. I gave my three girl roommates 4 yellow roses a piece and a box of chocolates. May not have sent there day over the moon, but it certainly made me feel better today about how I live my life, because at the end of the day, you are the person who has to look in the mirror and smile back at your reflection. If you can't do that, then you're wasting you're time. If you don't like what's looking back at you, don't bitch about it to everyone else. Take into account what you don't like and GROW as a person. You are responsible for your own happiness. Choose to be happy or choose to be sad. If we continue to walk around life, dwelling on the negative and the past, then we are likely to let the present slip right through our fingers. Stop, inhale and exhale. It will all be alright.

With this said though, we are all children at heart. Constantly needing reassurance that we are on the right track or that we will find our special someone some day. So here is this. Even though I may never talk to you, laugh with you, or cry with you, I, out of everyone else, love you. We all need a friendly reminder that this one day of the year is not a slap in the face, but merely a reminder that happiness is simply right around the corner. So stand up all of my Wanderers and pursuers of life. Don't you dare think for a second that you're not important. Trust me, you are.

True Beauty

"Beauty is not caused. It is."

Emily Dickinson

Much can be said about beauty, am I right? No matter in the darkest of places you can find some of the most beautiful things there are. Not to say that a P.O.W. has a reason to look on the bright side necessarily, but what I am saying is that we go through our lives, so much of the time, without truly seeing what we are surrounded by...When was the last time you sat next to a total stranger and said "Hello" without knowing who they were or why you even felt the need to say it? It is a simple thing really, conversation. The beauty in conversation is the invisible connection between two people that can end up changing your life forever. Seizing even the smallest of opportunities in this way, you have allowed yourself the chance to open up and see how much the world has to hand you back. 

The old quote is "Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder", which is true. But can you take in all of the beauty that lies around you, if you walk through your day with your eyes shut? I guarantee every single one of you has driven from one location to another, and all you can seem to remember is the last song on the radio. No real recollection of the drive in the slightest. Why? Even if we have driven the same stretch of road, countless times, does that make it any less beautiful? I challenge you, to go through your day, everyday, and try and find something that you've never seen before. Open your mind to new experiences and breathe in each day as if it were your last. 

I've shared this video with you so that you can see, just as I have, that even the most basic things such as paint can create something truly timeless and beautiful. Much could be said about words in the same way or a mundane drive that can suddenly become breathtaking. True beauty, I agree, IS in the eye of the beholder; so stop closing your eyes, and enjoy it!

A Voice

Never have I had a desire to hear my own voice, but I've always had the drive to write and create. So naturally blogging takes "my voice" out of the equation and substitutes it with an equal, only this voice you'll hear in your head instead of with your ears. And naturally as anything goes that is written, especially when you know the person (author) that has written it, you will read it with their tone and inflections as you see fit. I don't know how "unique" my voice may be, but my style of saying it is usually the key. I am naturally sarcastic, as is my writing which you will be able to notice as you read (if you read). No matter what the voice though, whether it be high pitch, twangy, deep south, jersey shore, what have you, everyone's voice is important. Everyone should be heard. 

How is it that the power of speech has naturally been turned into some encrypted code? It seems as if with every word that is spoken there is a need to decipher it to find out a "true meaning"? With the world of texting this has only manifested into hysteria upon trying to recognize tone, or "Why is he only sending me one word texts back?", or even "Now when he says I like you, does that mean he likes me or he just likes me?" A constant roundabout way of looking at the world, continually falling on our own hypocrisy and our need to know everything. 

Let me put it to you simply. Say what you mean and mean what you say. No one should have to hide what they actually think for fear of being put down or mocked. Who would want to say anything, right? Pave the ways for those to follow and step up and say exactly what you want. You can't hope to follow the plot line of "What Women Want"; that one day you'll get in an accident and somehow be able to hear what everyone is thinking, and then so, act accordingly. Not to mention, if you have something to say about someone else then say it TO THEM. Don't allow yourself to build up with frustration over volatile issues and petty mistakes. We are all human.

Now this is not to say that your voice is more important than others. Everyone has a voice, let everyone use it. Be as equal a listener as you are a speaker. And when someone is speaking, actually LISTEN. You can learn so much more from talking to everyone that you meet than you can hope to learn in a classroom. I've learned some of the most interesting and trivial material simply by keeping my ears open and being engaging in a conversation that I couldn't give two shits about. 

Be yourself! You think you look damn good in an outfit? Wear it! Don't let the judgements of other people stifle your creativity. Your voice is not just spoken. It is important and shines out in everything that you do. Be original and let others dream of one day being just as open and expressive as you. Doesn't everyone want to be looked up to, to be a role model? 

So my statement is this: No matter what you need to say, say it. Let your voice rain out. Speak your mind and listen to the world around you. Everyone has a voice, now everyone use it.