Sometimes it is easy to forget that we make our own way in this life. Though we are influenced by others, either directly or indirectly, we walk the path of our life on our own. We CREATE the path.
This is true in my own life, as I started on the path of being a teacher, which had always been my heart’s desire. But at some point, that path became everyone else’s desire, and so, when I decided to forage off into the woods and make another path, some people were upset with me. How could I leave the path? After all, I had created it and set upon it. Everyone expected that I would continue down that path for the rest of my working life.
At one point, I realized that I was walking down that path for others’ satisfaction and not for mine. I no longer felt the same pleasure on that path, and the walk was draining me of all my energy. So I decided to create a new path. If I were to look back at the path I created in the past five years, I would see a meandering path of no direction for the first year or two. But in fact, even as the path swayed back and forth, it still was heading in a particular direction.
My first job, after I was done teaching, was at my health club. After all, I wanted to keep my membership there, but knew I couldn’t afford to stay. I worked 11-18 hours a week, and it was a good transition from teaching. Around the same time, some friends opened a fitness studio in the area, and so I volunteered (and sometimes got paid) to help them launch the company. It was one of these friends who encouraged me to take a yoga class for instructors. She thought I might like it, since I had begun my regular yoga practice a few years before. At the same time, she let me use their space to host weekly women’s circles.
My walk was established, and I was clearly on a defined path by this time.
Sometimes, you have to disappoint a few people when you decide to step off the path you were on to create a new path. Sometimes you have to meander for awhile before you find the perfect path for yourself. But be sure, you are moving in the right direction. There is an inner compass which some refer to as our Higher Self and some refer to this compass as God, but the compass is steering you toward something better, and it is our work to pay attention to the path we walk to look for signs that tell us what our purpose is.
JOY!