Sometimes There Are Paths and Sometimes You Have to Make Your Own

Last weekend my house was surrounded by 3 to 5ft of snow. I have never seen anything like it and when we went out to shovel, I was amazed by the walls of snow. For a minute it looked like it would take days to dig out and our poor bulldog Thomas had no where to do his business until we shoveled out a area for him. We quickly bundled up and got our tools in hand; me a shovel, my husband a snow blower and got to work.

Luckily, hours earlier, I had observed one of our neighbor's technique to removing such large amounts of snow. He would use the shovel to push and pull down the top foot and a half and then use the blower on the bottom half. He used this technique over and over until he cleared his whole driveway and out into the street. Teaming up with my husband, I pushed and pulled the top half of the snow down and he blew it into huge 6 ft piles in our yard. Together we cleared the driveway in no time at all.

Later that day, I realized I was going to run out of pull ups.Our roads were still not plowed and our city was in a state of an emergency. They told us it could be days until they got to us.  I am potty training my son, but he still needs them at night, so right away I called my babysitter who lives around the corner because I knew she had some.  I headed out on the foot path on our street created by other neighbors. As I walked along, I used the steps that were there before me until I got to a point where I noticed there were no more tracks. The snow was up to my thighs but I decided to just keep going. It was really hard work to make my way, but I figured I need the workout anyway. I took breaks to catch my breath and used a broom stick a neighbor gave me to help keep me steady.

Along the way, I would see neighbors who would caution me to take my time and others encourage me to keep going. I took one deep step after another until finally I got to my destination and plopped onto my butt for a rest. I felt relief when I was greeted by my babysitter, a big smile on her face as she handed me the bag of pull ups. On my way back home, I could see an easier way using some walking paths and a plowed street. When I returned home I felt accomplish in a small way. I had a taste of what it might be like for a frontier man/woman except without wolves and bears. :)

That night, I had a thought about my short journey around the corner. I realized that when we have a goal or dream in life there are paths that have been pre-made for us making the journey a little easier. Sometimes there are no paths and we have to make them ourselves, which is much harder.  We get tired, we may want to give up and turn around but if we keep going we can come upon those pre-made paths again. It just reminded me how important it is to keep you head up, listen to your inner voice, use the tools your are given along the way and  take encouragement from strangers. Find pre-laid paths when you can but also don't be afraid to work hard, sweat, let your heart race,  feel the blood pumping through your body and make your own paths. Give yourself the gift of accomplishment that comes from striving beyond your comfort zone because that my friends is where the magic happens! Plus, the paths you make can be used again and will make the journey a little easier for someone else.