I walked a hike recently in which I came to a fork in the path which led to a bit more adventure than I was expecting. One metaphor I see. Perhaps you’ve heard before – Making the choice created a degree of freedom. It set forth a direction and a purpose. It is one metaphor in life.

When I realized I chose a path which led to my big adventure, I came to a different kind of choice: Turn back, or press on and crest the mountain. I was alone and my destiny was in my own hands. I was on quite a vertical incline, and the top was certainly in sight. The metaphor that occurred to me. Pushing yourself forward may require you to step outside of what is comfortable, and retracing your steps leads to a somewhat known outcome.

I chose to press forward and crest the top. The vertical nature of the path I chose required me to get on all fours to crawl to my destination. Thankfully, nature provided stable rocks, embedded tree roots, and mature tree trunks to grasp. Imagine me grabbing a tree and taking a step. Grabbing a rock or root and taking another step. Slowly and methodically, with the help of these natural anchors, I inched closer to the top.

It wasn’t pretty! I’ll leave you to your imaginations to create any unsightly images for giggles.

Crawling to the top brought me a great sense of accomplishment, and a sweet, albeit exhausted joy. (Not bad for a 60-year-old woman!) Another life metaphor. Slow and steady wins the race (even if you feel as though you’re crawling). Even in slow, forward movement, amazing rewards happen. There is a time for what is known and familiar, and there is a time to brave the unknown, even when crawling is involved. The grace in all of this is that we always have choices. Our choices create different adventures.

Image by Peter H from Pixabay