This Way... That Way... Every Way...

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…”

All of us, at some point or another, have paused the present to look into our futures. As we let now fade into then and allow our imaginations to take control, we can’t help but dream of beautiful castles in the sky…our hopes.

These hopes begin to materialize out of a mist… a simple wish or an audacious goal, a fleeting passion or an ardent desire. Whatever the motivation to dream, we dream. We dream BIG. And life seems so perfect at those moments.

And then something happens. As we stare at the beautiful castles we build brick-by-brick, hope-by-hope and we realize something. Our mind starts to think, “Castle’s have grand entrance halls! Grand entrance halls with grand front doors! But… doors. Doors, they have paths that lead to them.”

Slowly, our dreams begin to lose their shimmer. We begin to picture the door and the paths leading to them. We begin to question, “Which path leads to my dream castle? There are so many here. Which one gets me there?” Our dream castles stand out so clearly in our minds, but every time we begin to picture that door and the path leading up to it, every time we begin to doubt, they lose more and more sparkle—our dream castles begin to vanish into the mist from which we formed them. And all too soon, our castles are so hidden in fog that it is not even worth pausing the present to dream of them. And, thus, dreams fade…

Why are we so willing to veil our castles in this fog called reality?

It’s at these moments, when the last little glimmer of the tallest tower is final consumed in the swirling mists that I say to myself, “Why can’t I just find that hidden path?”

In front of me are so many paths. All of them must end at doors somewhere along the way. But which one leads to my dream castle? Is it this way? Is it that way? Or, maybe in some obscure way, it’s every way?

I examine the paths for as far as I can see. I take in every aspect, every possible detail. I try to see the door at the end and right as I put my foot to the easiest looking one I remember my castle…

That’s what this blog is about. I want to see my dream castle again. More than that, I want to get to my dream castle. I want to take those last few steps and walk right through that grand door and into that grand entrance hall!

This blog is about that castle and my journey there. It is about asking, “Is it this way? Is it that way? Is it really every way?” I know that the answers won’t always be easy, they’re not suppose to be. That's the adventure we call life. But here’s the thing that I’ve come to realize. My dreams are worth fighting for. They’re worth striving for. And as I begin to answer those questions, hopefully I will begin to get closer and closer to my dream castle, one step at a time…one adventure at a time.

Come along with me if you dare… I hope that somewhere along the way you’ll find your own dream and/or the path leading to your castle’s door. I can only hope.

So, where to from here… This way? That way? Or every way?