The Woods Are Lovely Dark and Deep...

'Jay shares thoughts on the inspirational strength of the human spirit in persevering, pushing forward and completing the journey!'

‘But I have miles to go before I sleep.’ These are words from the famous Robert Frost poem – ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.’ It’s a great piece of work in that it describes a dilemma that nearly everyone faces at one time or another. You find yourself on a mission. May even be a lifetime goal. But it’s something dramatically important to your very being and what you feel you ‘need’ to achieve. Yet inevitably, there are hurdles along the way. The path is arduous and at times, exhausting. In these moments, the dark, still woods offer refuge, a place to rest and curtail your journey – perhaps even ending the quest. Yet, you summon up the energy – and awaken to the realization that there is no choice. You must move on. And so, you do. With many more miles to go before you sleep.

To put it in personal terms, have you ever set a goal for yourself and along the way either found yourself stuck, uninspired, distracted or just downright ready to give up? Perhaps things become a bit more difficult than anticipated, or we lose sight of our vision because something gets in the way, or we procrastinate and say we’ll pick things back up tomorrow. Whatever the case may be, it’s important that when we set a goal for ourselves, we remember that we’re not just setting our sights on something, but we’re also making a promise with ourselves to achieve something.

Throughout our lifetime, we work hard to build trust with others, demonstrating our integrity and reliability as a means of creating social bonds or maybe getting a long sought after promotion. Oftentimes though when we’re trying to demonstrate our competence and aptitude to others, it comes with a heavy price. Even when we may have built and kept a great reputation, we have to ask ourselves, have we been reliable to ourselves? While we’ve kept our word to others, have we kept to our own word and our own internal promises?

Life has a tendency to put things in our path that can distract us, knock us off course, or discourage us from achieving or attaining the things we want most. These can even be things that feel like the right thing to be doing in the moment but ultimately just get in the way of where we’re really trying to go. So, it’s essential to remember that when we set goals or dream about our future, while it’s ok to stop, take a break, and enjoy the journey, we must also be conscious that we made a promise to ourselves and that there is still work to be done in order to make good on that promise. Don’t let fatigue, distraction or issues of the moment get in the way – and rob you of your destiny. Keep faith with your mission and know that you have all that it takes to go those many miles before you sleep.

Alan Shepard - Reaching for the Stars!

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