01/07/2010: "Any Road May Get You There"

She was conscious that the things she did were the things she had always wanted to do."
Zelda Fitzgerald, 1922

On the surface this sounds like a story of fulfillment. There was a time I would have read it that way myself. But right now I am doing things I never thought to do and have spent a good deal of my working life avoiding. To my great surprise they are bringing out the best in me. And I realize that by being fixated on one idea of success, I have suffered a lack of imagination with respect to others.

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."
Lewis Carroll

This cautionary aphorism is often quoted to illustrate the importance of goal setting as a basis for making sound life choices. But it's nonsense really if you think about it. We rarely know where any chosen path will lead or who or what we will encounter on the road. I have most often been disappointed by a chosen destination that did not quite live up to my expectations, and most often been delighted by a little piece of paradise found while I was otherwise lost.

"Wherever you go, there you are."
Anonymous

There's just no arguing with that.

Three morals in this story:

1. Do what you've always wanted to do.
2. Do what you've avoided all your life.
3. Any road may get you there; wherever you go, there you are.

Yours with creativity, imagination and logic,
Darlene