Kerch's posts Kerch on 05 Mar 2007 10:14 am
The “necessary journey”
This morning, I read the obituary of a woman I do not know. Edda M. Jakab.
It was the caption under her picture that drew me in.
“At age 17, she took a day off from high school to wed, returning to class the next day as a married woman.”
She died at age 61 still married to that man. Her husband said she was “fond of finding beauty in the ‘necessary journey’ – an Emersonian phrase that captured the long road she traveled.”
The moment of decision might well be an on or off sort of place, but the change I’m interested in is long term change — better diet, better health, better connection … for the rest of my life not just for this second.
I think we all understand, intellectually, that change is a process, a journey. And, yes of course, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step… right, right, right.
But, in fact, that’s just a beginning.
Change happens whether we choose it or not. We get older, things happen to us and to others that require adjustments. But that change might be more of the kind that gets me somewhere, just not necessarily where I want to be.
And I’m 50. I get to choose! For cryin’ out loud!
So what I’m struggling with in my personal journey is making the right choice about where I want to go.
My acupuncturist reminds me that I don’t have to make a single choice for all eternity. I just have to make a choice — from the hundreds of ideas I have – for right now. Choose something for which I have passion and the rest of the stuff will sort of find its own place.
How are you figuring out where you want to go?
If you have even an inkling of an idea, I’d sure like to hear it.
Thanks.
on 21 Apr 2007 at 3:10 am 1.Betsy said …
You don’t have to make a choice for all eternity.
I believe that. But I also know there are some choices you make that end up requiring your presence for a long, long, long time and are a lot harder than you thought they’d be. Reneging is unthinkable. I bet most pioneers did not know, when setting out for Oregon, that they would encounter all the what-all they encountered, including, but not limited to, death itself.
For my part (in Oregon!), I’m tired. And the job isn’t done yet. I’m in for the duration. It’s a case of doing things I don’t want to do, moment-to-moment, when the greater satisfaction (never mind the job is mine to do, and that’s that) trumps the Right-Now-I-Want-To stuff, some of it. The Sunday New York Times Crossword, even.
There are days I can imagine I’d get more pleasure out of setting my hair on fire.
So it must be, there is a difference between Pleaure, and Want. Sometimes we want to do difficult things. (And, to have done them.)
How to find “the beauty in the necessary journey.” Well, Ive got some more thinking to do. Burnt hair is not beautiful.