Not all who wander are lost

There comes a time in our lives when we are old enough and been given the freedom to do our own thing. We walk around aimlessly, not certain of what we are looking for but something draws us to this secret place we find ourselves in. We seek our identity as we wander through our thoughts, trying new things as a way to find out who we are and what the purpose is of us being here. Many influences creep into our lives as we look for the answers to the many questions we have, we are not lost we are just wandering through the possibilities of life trying to find the true meaning to our existence.

Anne Sophie Swetchine says: “In this world of change, nothing which comes stays, and nothing which goes is lost.” The road less travelled may be a hard one but we all have to face it at some point. The opportunities we didn’t take are not lost but new ones arise as we wander through life. We follow the footprints left in the sand by those who have gone before us, who also found themselves wandering but were never lost because the grass is greener on the other side and there is always a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

How to step from the top of a 100-foot pole?

The first question one might ask is how exactly you got to the top of a 100-foot pole in the first place. Whenever you’re at the top of something high the first thing someone will tell you is not to look down. Your immediate reaction is looking down and instantly the realisation of where you are hits you and panic settles in.

With every decision we make in life there comes a time when we need to take a step of faith, leap into the air and learn to fly. Each day we take another step forward in our lives and move towards our ultimate goals in life. At times we may step backwards and at other times we progress forward to achieving our goals. It may be that when we do reach the top of the 100-foot pole the only way up - is to jump, spread your wings and learn to fly.

It’s the same concept like starting a new job and your boss throws you in the deep end. You have to learn to swim and turn the challenge before you into an opportunity. With no alternative options it may be safer to take a risk and make yourself vulnerable, to step from the top of the 100-foot pole into the unknown.

Do something

As the world revolves on its axis it seems that most of society is concerned about nothing else except themselves with a minority looking pass that and making a small impact by doing something towards making a difference in the world. It’s easy for an individual to think up a dream but the task that will make the greatest impact is never done because no action is made and people end up doing nothing rather than something. We are waiting for change to take place in the world but no one wants to take on the responsibility to start doing something and as we wait nothing is happening. We stay in this isolated state of mind rather than making use of the power of one with an untied front of people standing together and actually doing something.

Eldridge Cleaver makes a clever statement: “You’re either part of the solution or you are part of the problem.” Too many people feel comfortable with being part of the problem and have yet to realise the deep hole society has dug itself into: our environment is deteriorating yet we do nothing about it, we chat on our phones and are slowly loosing our relationships with those around us, we see the elderly while taking public transport yet we don’t get up and offer our seats.

Someone out there has the cure to AIDS but they are not putting that knowledge to practice, someone out there has the answer to resolve the global financial crisis but they are doing nothing about it. We all know our strengths, we see the poverty and problems daily but we do nothing about it and stay in the same place we have always been. We need to change our mind sets, we need to look pass ourselves and do something everyday which will lead to a major impact in the world. What you are tomorrow depends on what you do today.

We are what we do

The first thing that comes to mind is the saying that goes “Our actions speak louder than words”.

This takes me to our daily routine which we may take for granted and don’t realise that the things we do are who we are. The smallest things like waking up in the morning, only to hit the snooze button making us late again could show a hidden characteristic of who we are. It might just be that being late is about that grand entrance we make at the event to get the attention we want and that’s why we late anyway.

But there’s more to what we do than just our daily routines. We choose what we want to do, which impacts who we are. We may never have thought of it as being linked but our acts reflect us. It shows in the way we act towards people, when we greet with a smile to show our friendless. Our bad habits and even our best traits are reflected outwardly in all we do.

I don’t think we realise how much we can grasp about a person by taking note of what they do. It may just be a good idea to take a moment and look at the person you are. See how much you can learn about yourself through the things you do, even the smallest of details.

We are afraid of the wrong things

I’ll never forget the lesson I learnt not too long ago about the unknown. I’m talking about when you sit in a room and an unknown figure appears in the door way. We will immediately turn our attention to that because we don’t know what it is and we also want to give ourselves piece of mind.

The greatest thing we can fear is not only fear itself, but ourselves. As humans we have been given the power to choose which makes us different from any other thing that was created. It’s us who chooses from the smallest thing like being afraid of the dark to hurting a person we care deeply about. It’s ourselves that have to face the consequences of those decisions and it’s ourselves that we should be afraid of not the spider in the corner of our room or the man that looks at us suspiciously as we pass by.

As a child it was our innocence that made us curious and less afraid of things but it might also have been the comfort that we could run to our parents for safety when we were afraid of the dark. As we grow up we expand our knowledge and our experiences have influence into what we are afraid of. Maybe it’s because we are not brave enough to face up to our fears and we’d much rather be seen as a coward.

We all have our fears, its part of who we are but secretly we know we are afraid of the wrong things and we should much rather fear ourselves than anything else.