Wednesday

Know Thyself - Walk Your Path

Early on in our relationship, my wife told me, "...sometimes you have to go left to [eventually] go straight." And she was right. But as of late I am moving through a revelatory experience. Call it being fully into my forties now. Call it having too much time on my hands. Call it being plagued with an overactive mind. Call it the power with having as many years behind you as are potentially in front of you. But I see my path and how weird it's been. Despite all the writing and plotting I've done I see the mistakes I've made, how many times I've gone left to go straight, as recently as January and I can recognize something that makes me shudder --- most of the more incorrect decisions I've made were tied to lack of knowledge or even denial of knowledge of self.

For all that I know I am I've always sought to be other things thinking they paid more money or came with more notoriety. However, what I am is a writer, a content creator, a blogger, a person who can find a story anywhere and weave it into something great for mass consumption. I see the story in the things I take pictures of, when I'm playing around on Garage Band I write music that tells a story, and even when trying to make sure the layout of this blog makes sense to you, the reader, I want it to make sense from the standpoint of leading you from one place and delivering you somewhere else.

At the end of last year I worked as a technical writer and I wasn't too fond of it. But I had the opportunity to tell a story, as dry as it was, from start to finish. That opportunity created two more. One was a storytelling opportunity, which I passed on because the other opportunity appeared to be shinier. It had more glitter. But everything that glitters isn't gold.

As I look back on the ashes of my experience, I see the pattern of incorrect choices based on incorrect knowledge of self. In the battlefield I see the choices I should've made being carried by others who aren't carrying them as well as I could've. But even in this revelation there is no regret. It is knowledge of self that indicates all of the above to me. Something I couldn't have known under the duress of trying to please others, whether they asked me or not, and serve up some image of myself that was never intended to be.

When you know yourself, your decision-making becomes easier. Your error-margin decreases. Time will speed up (there won't be enough hours in the day). Your happiness-meter rises and your peace skyrockets off the gauge.

Know thyself and walk your path, proudly, fearlessly and with sheer and utter determination. And all the fruits of your labor will follow.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter at @EPayneTheDad.