Discerning Your Path

There are many paths before me. Which one do I take? If you are like me, you are drawn to more than one. Maybe more than several. Maybe you lose count and create a frenetic life, bouncing from one path to another in rapid succession. Even though I buy all the supplies for a project, or map out all the details for a possible business, the project or business never really gets started and, even if  something is started, it takes on the characteristic of a ball of yarn the cat unravels while I knit. But in this analogy, I am both the cat and the ball of yarn!

It has taken me a while (a long while) to realize I simply can’t do everything. I have a part-time job as a proofreader, so every moment not working is committed to . . . laundry, shopping, cooking, preparing for clients, maybe even sleeping.  And though I tried walking disparate paths, I couldn’t seem to start on one and keep going.

Finally, I sat down with myself and prioritized. What do I love to do? What don’t I love to do? What can’t I live without doing? Something I love so much, I could do it all day and never tire of it? Writing! I love writing, from poems, to essays, short stories, to novellas, and fiction and non-fiction books. But! With everything else I have committed to doing, I am unable to focus on, as Seth Godin so wisely encourages: create and ship. I am good at creating, but with everything else vying for my attention, I can’t find time to ship. Until now. Having examined every path open to me, I have closed them all but one: writing!

If you are wondering why you get nothing done, although you try hard to do so, I cannot recommend strongly enough making a nice pot of tea, and creating a list or a mind map of everything you want to do. After you have listed everything you can think of, start crossing out the things you would not miss doing. Keep at it. It takes time to discern the small voice inside you that knows your priority mission in this life. Keep listening and crossing out. And when you are down to a few paths, really examine how following these paths might make you feel. When you land on one that fills you with joy, that’s the one to follow. This method worked for me and I know it can work for you.

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