There I was enjoying a 15 mile cycle down the canal, on my way to meet up with a friend at Barton Marina and I started to think about how the towpath changes over the ride. One minute I was on hard packed gravel, then on Tarmac, sometimes grass, and then mud. This got me thinking that really the towpath is a lot like life.
Stay with me on this and you will see what I mean.
So in this photo, we all have our own paths to follow and you can see here the worn mud, it is quite narrow but we have a definite path to follow. Straying off this narrow path is okay as we have space either side, and if we stray off we are still heading in the right direction but the speed that we move at maybe a bit slower and it is not disastrous.
An example of this is you getting on with your day and you have a phone call from a family member who has broken down and needs some help. Your day (path) has been disrupted but it is nothing that is going to get in the way to much.
Here we have choices, into the distance you can see 3 tracks along the path, all of which will reach the same destination so you are still going to stay on track but with the power of choice you have to decide which one to take.
Left – nearer the trees or obstacles and the track has a slight camber over some slippy tree roots. A bit more risky but the potential outcome is a bit more fun.
Right – nearer the water and more mud, the chance of falling in the water is increased but the adrenaline makes it more exciting.
Or stay in the middle. Very safe and no chance of hitting any obstacles or falling in the water. A little less fun and exciting but a far safer choice.
The choice you make will have an outcome and will depend on how comfortable you are in the situation. We all know the more you do something the easier it becomes. Likewise when you first try something you will probably opt for the easier safer choice which is human nature. The thing to remember with the choices we make is to own that choice and if it ends up being the wrong choice, learn from it and make a better choice next time.
When you think about choices, our whole lives are a series of choices. How hard we try at school, the jobs we do, the person we marry, how we bring up our kids. So the next time you make a choice, think a bit harder about where that choice will take you.
Sometime life gets a bit muddy and we can often get around the edge, but there are times when you just have to plough through it.
I suppose we are all in one of those times now with Coronavirus. We are all slipping and slidding around trying to navigate our way through the mud. We keep looking down the path to see if there is an end point, but it just keeps on being muddy. We do know that the mud will end, but sometimes we lose sight of that and start to feel a bit down. We feel like we are all alone in our mud…….
It is amazing how much strength we all have if someone is in the mud with us. We can actually find it funny seeing each other slip around. We will also support each other and hold each other up…. So if you are in the mud right now, phone a friend, reach out and ask for some support. Or if you can see someone in a bit of mud, reach out to them, offer some support.
The mud will come to an end and we will get through it.
Bridges, someone has built bridges over the parts of the path that are impassable. The bridge is support, an opportunity, a helping hand.
In life we make choices and sometimes amazing things happen. A bridge appears that makes our path easier. So for example my sister in law was given some information. She passed it to me which led onto our own business for 23 years in which we travelled around the world for free, were awarded a free BMW and earned really good money. Yes we hard to work really hard which was the choice we made after we decided to walk over the bridge.
Then the path sometimes becomes really clear. As far as you can see, no mud. The path is wide enough. You can get a bit of speed up and feel the wind rushing past you. Does life get any better than this?
Then you look across and see those Narrowboats and you look back over the path and remember the mud and the tracks, the hard times. Just look at the canal, no mud just calm water that these boats effortlessly glide along. Well it is alright for them. Even if our path is good right now we know that further up the path there will be some more mud.
But hang on a minute, is it all right for them? Or is it just our perception. Gliding along on their narrowboat without a care in the world. This is how we view other people especially when we are stuck in our own mud. They will have their own path to tred. They have to empty their own portaloo for god sake. It is not as glamourous as it looks.
The bottom line is that everybody has muddy bits, so when you look at others gliding along just be happy for them. They might have just finished with some mud, or it may be coming to them, so while they are gliding be happy for them.
At the end of the day we all have to make choices. Some of them good others not so. We are all faced with a path of tracks, mud, gravel or even tarmac. All we have to do is deal with it. Know that while it is bad it will not last and that while it is good it will not last.
But also know that we only grow mentally when it is bad, we become better people when we have gone through the mud of life.
The parts when we feel like we are gliding along is the reward for getting through the mud. So stick with it, better paths are just round the corner.
