This is from the viewing point at Slieve League - Ireland's second highest sea cliffs.
The only way there is a narrow and winding road from which I too this photo.
It is called 'One Man's Path.'
This post was written by Courtney Snyder.
I've come to believe there is part of us that knows exactly what to choose, where to go - a wise compass of sorts. Through our civilizing/educational process, we learn to doubt or even ignore this critical tool.
As far back as I can remember, I had taken most direction from the outside. I found comfort in structure, following rules and traveling a straight line. This changed when I found myself at a dead-end.
It was 1998. I was in my last year of residency and accompanying my husband on a trip for one of his job interviews. There, before me, was a preview of the rest of my life. I would be the wife of a surgeon - secondary to that, I would be a psychiatrist - living in large suburban house on an affluent street in a Texas town of 50,000. For someone else this may have been a dream-come-true. For me, it was an end - the end of an interesting and unfolding life and the end of my 'self'.
I didn't know what I wanted, but I knew what I didn't want. That was the start of listening to myself. Over the next 13 years, my compass took me through a divorce, onto a satisfying psychiatric practice, into lasting love and marriage, to a simpler way of living, to motherhood at 37, to closing my practice to be at home with my daughter and now towards a creative work life. I still don't have it all figured out. I never will. But along the way, I’m learning to trust myself and remember:
- The decisions that have brought me the most meaning and joy, have been my own.
- Even the smartest and most caring people in my life can't know more about my path than I do.
- Ignoring my compass for the sake of others eventually will hurt me and them.
- The best way to help someone at their crossroads is to listen well so they can hear themselves.
- Detours are not just an essential part of the journey, they are the journey. We should take them.
- "Following your heart” or “listening to your gut” is really about following those ideas, relationships, moments, activities, environments and experiences that bring you energy, even if you can’t explain why. Pay close attention to them and you’ll find out what you are trying to tell yourself.