The Road Not Taken

As this is the first official post of "All the Difference", I will be sharing my favorite poem, written by my favorite poet. The poem and the quoted commentary below it are referenced at the end of this post.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all he difference.
-Robert Frost (1874-1963)

"We must interpret his choice of a road as a symbol for any choice in life between alternatives that appear almost equally attractive but will result through the years in a large difference in the kind of experience one knows."

I have had a lot of choices in my life, and like Robert Frost there are times in which I could have traveled both roads at the same time. Sometimes I have been blessed with a choice in which one alternative is clearly better than the other. But what about the ones in which the alternatives are in relative equality? I think about what my life would be like had I never left Utah for California. Had I never returned to Utah from California. Had I never made the mistakes that I have. Had my mistakes been timed differently or made different mistakes altogether.

One of my favorite parts of this poem is that statement of how "way leads on to way". Often in my times of quiet, ususally on the night drive home or when I park in an area that overlooks the valley, I think about how I got to where I am. Which events lead to another that were critical in providing me with the cards I currently have in my hand. I certainly feel like I'm being guided along in the journey of my life. At times its a strong sense of direction, and complete helplessness during others.

But the difference has been the way that I approach my reaction to life's events. Do I let it teach me? Or just surrender to sadness and try to cast blame on others? I have been fortunate enough to have parents and other sources of influence in my life constantly instill a sense of "fight." I am of course, referring to the animalistic fight or flight approach to any event. I strongly believe and have witnessed in my life as well as others, the power of "fight" inherent in any individual.

Reaction is a matter of choice.

And it is one of the few things in life that make all the difference.

Most of my biggest victories have come at the end of a path that began during a moment of crisis, where my reaction would be the very thing that made all the difference... because the course of direction was mine alone to make.

I feel like I have fighting all my life and the mistakes that led to times of crisis in my life is when I decided to retreat from the issues at hand: those things that are crucial for me to master before I can move on to the next chapter of my life. Oddly enough, the failures and crisis -products of path commanded by a chose to run away- have eventually forced me to fight anyway.

This is not to be mistaken as some morbid approach to life, where you suffer and then you die. It's endurance-training. John Maxwell said in his book The Difference Maker that you can judge the strength and character of someone by witnessing how much strife one can take before they start to become unraveled. I feel that each time I choose to "fight", that decision becomes easier to make as problems (opportunities in disguise) present themselves.

As I close this post, I offer a challenge. For a challenge will be offered at the end of each post, something to carry with you into your daily tasks and duties. My challenge to you is this:

View every problem, every situation in which your decision requires you to choose one path among many as an opportunity. Rely on your strengths and talents to influence the outcome of your chosen path, even though you may not know where it leads. Take the road less traveled, opt for an opportunity to trully grow- to take a step (or two) closer to who you were designed to be. It will be uncomfortable. It will be uncertain. But adventures are not lived out in a snuggie or at the bottom of a bottle. They are lived out on the rocky paths less traveled by. Your decisions at the various tailheads of your life will make all the difference.


Arp & Johnson. Perrine's Sound and Sense. 10th Edition. 2002. United States of America. pg 88-89.