“Life presents you many options to arrive at your destination.
How do you really know if you traveling in the right direction?
Is it because the path is filled with enchanting glee,
Or because you are never in desperation, belting out an emotional plea?
What if on your journey of life, you run into a fork in the road?
This moment prompts you two decisions that have a pretty hefty toll.
You blindly make a turn that you believe is promising,
But it ends up being a never ending journey of misery.
Maybe there is a lesson masked by your distress;
Which will strengthen you, ultimately providing the directions to success.
No need to argue which turn is right or wrong,
As long as you find the destination and finish strong.”
– Jasmine S. Smith [July 24, 2018]
After a discussion with an old friend regarding this whole ‘Adulting’ phase that we have entered, I was inspired to write the above poem. I look around at many of my peers, also doing some soul searching of my own, and I see that many of us mistake a “wrong turn” for definitive failure.
Through my journey of life, I have come to understand that mistakes are often given the name ‘experience’. Mistakes turn into experience by our commitment to learning from them, and not repeating them. Not that I’m encouraging anyone to make mistakes purposely, but it is important that we understand that this is oftentimes how greatness is formed. After all, when we were babies, we all got a handle on walking, by falling and getting up over and over. In primary school, we learned how to put the correct shape in the hole, by attempting to jam every shape that we had, until we successfully inserted the right one. I think you get my drift. When approaching the unknown, it’s important for us to understand this concept. We are not going to be knowledgeable in every situation, and that’s okay. Bravery and tenacity are the engine for change, so if you lead with this, you are already half way there. Wrong turns are going to occur. As we grow older and gain more ‘experience’, our internal GPS will begin to lessen the amount of “Re-routing” messages.
Failure is as final as your willingness to continue. Your courage to understand your faults, and somehow persevere… that is what will carry you through! After all, everyday presents us a new start to our journey!