Kathy Sierra did it again, with a post about taking the road less traveled and never regretting it. Strangely, though, her entry did not make me want to go to New Zealand, or start another small business, or begin training for that marathon.
Rather, it reminded me that the road that is really less traveled for me is the inner one. Over the past 20 years I've had a very hectic life, mostly due to self-created stresses (for example, the day after my best friend, also my lawyer, mentioned that it might be a good idea to form a company someday, I had registered satorimedia LLC in Delaware and was forming my Board of Directors). I've always had a tendency to see an opportunity and jump in feet first, often with unforgettable and wonderful results. One that comes to mind was an opportunity about five years ago to travel to Gambier Island (off the coast of Vancouver) and spend a weekend with the author Spider Robinson and his wife, Jeanne. I didn't really have the money, or the time to spare, or a really good reason to go. But it was an opportunity that I didn't think would come again, and I was right. That trip led, directly, towards one of the most treasured and rewarding relationships of my life.
At the same time, I'm tired. The roller-coaster is getting a little stale, and I'm starting to wonder what I'm missing as I zoom down one slope and up another. Little phrases are sticking in my head, like this one from Cheri Huber:
Can you stop trying to change into who you wish you were long enough to find out who you really are?
And this one, from the book "Meeting the Shadow"
Meeting the shadow calls for slowing the pace of life, listening to the body's cues, and allowing ourselves time to be alone in order to digest the cryptic messages from the hidden world.
OK, so it is a little new-agey. But while I know I'm capable of amazing things, I also have this sneaking suspicion that it ought to be easier than this. It's a matter of building up my strengths, for a bit, before we go back and take on the world.
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