“How do I know which path to choose when there are two (or more) paths that I want to take in life?”
Imagine you are hiking without a map and come to a fork in the trail. How do you decide which way to go?
In his poem ‘The Road Not Taken‘, Robert Frost suggests you should take the one less travelled:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
He was almost right. But not quite.
What if I want to go BOTH ways?
How do you decide which way to go when both directions seem equally appealing? What do you do when both life paths are equally desired? Here is an answer that may seem obvious, but evades most people:
Walk straight between the two paths, creating a third path.
When you want to do two (or more) different things in life, the solution is simple: combine them.
One coaching client wanted to be a painter and a hypnotherapist. Together we created the idea of Art-Hypnotherapy.
Another client wanted to remain a lawyer and own an eco-village. We created the idea of being an attorney who owns an eco-village where important negotiations are made.
I wanted to coach powerful leaders AND travel AND take people on adventures AND make a difference in the world. It was by combining these things that I created the idea for Hero Journeys.
How do I combine my different paths?
If there were an answer out there already, then it wouldn’t be a unique path – it wouldn’t be your path.
Combining is a process of creation.
The only tool you need is imagination. Or to use Walt Disney’s term: Imagineering
This is how both the iPhone and the Great Pyramids got made. They each started in someone’s imagination.
Your unique life can be created in this same way.
What if combining my paths is difficult?
“But what if when I get to the fork, there is a mountain in between the two paths?”
Then climb the freaking mountain!
Creating your own path is simple, but it won’t be easy.
How you will accomplish the task of climbing the mountain is unknown. This is how creation works; you cross a threshold into the unknown and go on a journey of discovery and manifestation.
The only thing you can be certain of about your path is that it will be riddled with uncertainty.
When you create the third path, you will create the life that is most true, and unique, to you.
What if I don’t succeed?
In the end, it won’t matter how far you made it up the mountain. You won’t care where you got to.
What you will care about is which way you chose to travel. What will truly matter is whether you followed a path or whether you went straight ahead, lead by your heart, climbed the mountain and created your own way.
The path less travelled is still someone else’s path.
Don’t be Robert Frost. Be who YOU are.
