To Dream is to Wonder. To Stumble is to Live.

    You know that feeling that you often get where your body is screaming at you to go one way, but your head is trying to talk you out of it? Every fiber of your being wants to take the road less traveled, but that little voice plants a seed of doubt and you turn towards the path that has already been laid out. It has taken me many, many years to learn how to distinguish when I need to go with my instincts and when I need to tell my head to shut up. I still don't always get it right, I am human after all, but I like to think that most of the time I am doing a good job of getting out of my own way. I find it to be one of the most disheartening things that I see; people letting life pass them by, too afraid to step out of their comfort zones and take a chance.
   It's not hard to see why so many take the other path, it is of course, much easier to do. It is also not hard to see why so many people are hesitant to take the road less traveled. Our society has made is so that others are quick to judge you on your actions, to ridicule those who are different or who may fumble. It's easier to sit back and coast, escaping the whispers and criticisms of the people around us. Is that really the example we want to set for our children though? Or for that matter, the picture we want to paint for ourselves? That it is okay take the easy way out? That we didn't chase our dreams, because they were too hard?
    I have been no stranger to those whispers and criticisms. And sometimes they can come from the most surprising and hurtful of places. I know that I have walked down many roads that were dead ends, that I have made huge life choices that, for one reason or another, just didn't work out. Each of those roads and choices however, has led me to where I am today. And for that reason alone, I cannot be ashamed of them. A lot of people have sat idly by and watched me as I found my way and many of them just didn't understand my reasoning. What is she doing they would say. Another empty dream they would whisper. I won't sit here and lie to you and say that I didn't doubt myself, that I didn't let those voices get into my head. Many times it was those very voices that made me stumble, that made me question myself. That is something that I can regret. I can regret letting others opinions influence my choices, just because I was afraid of being judged. How many of those very people truly know me or anything about my life? How many of them are even still in my life? I've come to realize that a lot of people judge, because they themselves are afraid to take chances. They think that you should just take what you have and work with it. That has never been good enough for me.
   One of the greatest lessons I have learned, that I will teach my children, is that you should take what you have and make it better. Never settle. Nothing worth having is ever easy. If I had let those people and their judgements rule my life then I would have never married my husband, I would have never had my children, I would never have had the confidence to move across country. And what would I have to show for it? Nothing. Sometimes you have to risk going too far to discover just how far you can really go.

 Life is about living.

   One of the hardest things that we will ever have to do is to learn how to have confidence in ourselves. To dig deep down and find the strength to do all of the things that we have hidden in our hearts. I myself am not done making choices that will leave people rolling their eyes or muttering under their breath, it's just who I am. I don't have it in me to let my life just be what it is. I want it to be the best life that it can be. I want my children to know that mistakes are fleeting, but your successes will last forever. That those successes are what will define you and that you can be proud that you worked hard to get to where you wanted to be. I think Robert Frost said it best:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.