The Difficult Road

It is safe to say that most of the time, we don't knowingly commit mistakes in life. Sometimes we assert our independence and freedoms excessively without us seeing the painful consequences of our actions. We often become obsessed with our rights and what we want and we sometimes find ourselves saying to the world that my life is nobody’s business.

We do what is enjoyable or pleasurable and every so often we tend to blur the line between right and wrong. And we even attempt to justify our actions even when we know full well that what we are doing maybe harmful in the end.

But this very thinking is what usually leads us down a road filled with regret. We only realize that we have exercised bad judgment when remorse is the end result, and shame often accompanies the guilt that we feel.

Doing what is right is never easy. It is often difficult. Doing what is wrong is easy. This is why we make many mistakes and sometimes repeatedly. We want the easy means to whatever it is that we desire. When we resort to this, we forget our values and our self-respect.

When we find ourselves having done the wrong thing, we even blame others for our decisions, or we say that we had no choice. But that is not true. We always have a choice. And despite the painful consequences of our mistakes, we have to face them and own them and take responsibility. We must rise above ourselves and be the hero of our story.

But being heroic is not easy. It calls forth our core values, and being ever mindful of who we want to be. Each of us wants to become better versions of ourselves. And to do this, we must constantly choose to do the next right thing in every moment of everyday.  

This life is the only life we will ever have. And we may not want to squander this one chance to live it well.