“Cheshire Puss…Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
— Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
Too often we abandon paths we’ve started on because of the false belief that it is now so natural to be on that path it’s inevitable that we follow it. The fact is nothing is inevitable — nothing — and destinations are only arrived at by continual effort, through a planned and continually refined process, towards a definitive goal. It doesn’t matter whether we think of ourselves as goal oriented or process oriented, if either the process is not in place or the goal has been forgotten, then it’s not a matter of whether we’ll get somewhere, but where, and whether it’s somewhere we wanted to be.
Take a moment to review where you are now. Is there something you feel you’ve slacked on? Have you started resting on your past accomplishments? Is there something you truly feel you should “get back into” because you feel it moves you closer to your desired goals? And have you defined both your goals and why you want them?
If you need a little direction, I highly recommend you read “You Graduated. Now What?” It was meant for a friend of mine who had just graduated college, but it’s really for everyone who may be at a crossroads about their future. Truth be told, that post is a condensed version of Become Who You Were Born to Be by Brian Souza, which you can pick up at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Audible.
Finally, you can download Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from Project Gutenberg.