Robert Frost’s Way? . . . Maybe

You have traveled down a very long road. With twists and turns, learning and changing along the way. Then you find yourself at a fork in the road where you have to make a decision on which way to go next. To the right: your dreams, your heart’s desire: The very thing that brings you joy and fulfillment. This is the path that will lead you there, prepared or not. This way, you are bound to stumble and fall, sacrifice and compromise, and struggle – perhaps nearly to a breaking point. The guarantee of taking the path to the right of this road is that you will forsake everything else to chase and capture your dream. To the left: conservative expectations and societal norms. This way, you land a “good job” that will offer financial stability for you and your family. This path will have stressors and “something missing”, yet because everything is in its place, you find a comfort zone to nestle into and don’t seek to fill that nagging void. The guarantee here is social acceptance, financial security, (possibly boredom) and a laid out plan toward retirement. Which path are you going to take?

Have you ever read Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” … or heard it read? If not, before we continue, here’s a clip I found on YouTube of Frost reciting his poem (don’t worry, it’s not long). Check it out so we are on the same page.

Scholars, poem enthusiasts and the average joe have read this poem and interpreted it in many ways. Some say “the [road] less traveled by” is the harder path, the one that requires more work and reaps the greatest reward. But how so? Look at the poem a bit more closely [in regard to your journey] and compare it to the right and left paths that I presented to you above. Which of those two is “the road less traveled by”? And while you are examining, consider the following questions: Why does it have to be either path? Why does it have to be a predetermined paved or trodden-ed way that has been laid or created by the walk of others that you must follow? Why is it that you only have the two from which to choose?

Well as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t have to be either path, I don’t have to follow a predetermined way set by those before me and I don’t only have to choose between the two.  If I [or you] so desire [which I have], you can instead opt to beat your feet right down the middle and stride proudly in the direction that will take you directly toward your heart’s desire with all (more or less) that both predetermined paths have to offer.  The point is, you have to choose the way that works best for you and that, for you, will make all the difference.  The harder path may be that right path because you lose loved ones and security in the process; or it may be the left where you live your life with the coulda-shoulda-wouldas.

So the path that I’m making for myself, though the ground beneath my feet may not be clear and require a greater deal of balance and care with each step and that may require the whacking away of weeds and forlorn branches that attempt to hinder my path . . . is “the [road] less traveled by.”  And it IS making all the difference . . .