As I continue to walk the bigger path of life, it is hard not to look back at the smaller paths and exit ramps taken along the way. People, places and experiences are what shape your life.
And many times I have wondered how one decision, made years ago, along one of the numerous side paths, would have changed everything.
Would I be walking this current path of life to become a nurse practitioner, probably not. And who knows where I would be if one of a thousand decisions had been made differently. Honestly, life’s little journeys can have positive and negative effects, but they are only part of the aspects that make you who you are.
As easy as it is to look back at paths not taken and decisions that could have been made differently, so it is with looking forward on my current path. Sometimes I think that I should never be here, but yet the path is still beneath my feet.
Even though the end is close and I think I will see it just around the next ridge. There waiting for me is another creek to cross or hill to climb. So I will keep walking. Sometimes on a smooth trail, sometimes on a path that is overgrown and strewed with hazards. Life is just that way, and there will be a day when I will look back and wonder if I should have made different choices I have yet to make.
2 comments:
What is interesting is that the paths are not always your choice. Here is my path to being an NP: I worked as a discharge planner for 7 years at the hospital where I am currently employed. My position was eliminated and after much soul searching, decided to go back to the bedside at the local community hospital, where I worked in the peds unit and peds ER. During that time, I decided to go back to school to be an NP. I often think that losing that other job forced my hand, that I wouldn't have become an NP if I hadn't been let go. Who knows? But I'm so glad things worked out the way they did!
New doors open all the time in life and most people just close them. Glad you walked through yours.
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