Have you ever found yourself at a fork in the road?
You step into a situation where you have multiple options and endless possibilities.
In those moments, how do you choose which path to take?
Surely, there is a right path and a wrong path. No?
For many of us (myself included), this juncture can be paralyzing.
You don’t want to make a mistake. You fear that, as The Road Not Taken suggests, once you make a decision, you won’t be able to take it back.
The pressure builds. The anxiety level rises.
How do you choose the right path?
They say that “all roads lead to Rome.”
In 20 BCE, Emperor Augustus erected the Milliarium Aureum. Likely made of marble or gilded bronze, the monument was considered the starting point for all Roman roads, and distances in the Roman Empire were measured in relation to it.
At the peak of Roman development, there were more than 400,000km of roads.
They were built along rivers and mountains. Some zigged, while others zagged.
Over 50 million inhabitants — people of different cultures and languages — traveled on them.
And they all led to Rome.
The Roman Empire may not exist anymore, but the human struggle to understand “where to go?” and “what to do?” persists to this day.
I am reminded of a pivotal moment in The Matrix [spoiler alert]:
Neo (Keanu Reeves) is trying to tell Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) that he’s not who Morpheus thinks he is.
He’s trying to explain that he’s not “the one.” He knows his path — his fate or future — and he’s nothing special. He’s just a guy.
And Morpheus cuts him off:
“There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”
-Morpheus (emphasis added)
A few years ago, during an Aikido practice with Sensei Shiohira Hideki of the Pacific Aikido Federation, I asked: “is the technique performed like this? Or is it like that?
His response:
“Just do it.”
Or, as Bruce Lee put it, “don’t think…feel.”
We face a fork in the road and become indecisive.
We get caught up in the choices that we have. We think too much and don’t take enough action.
Let’s turn the situation around:
You are no longer at a fork. Instead, the roads — the choices — stare back at you.
The roads are coming to you.
They are coming back to you.
You are Rome.
Just as all roads lead to Rome, every choice that you consider leads you closer to your true self. All roads lead to learning. To understanding. To growth.
There is no right or wrong path. There is only doing.
Some paths are a smooth, straight line.
Some are jagged and scary.
Others are circular, taking you back to where you started.
It doesn’t matter.
Ultimately, what matters is not which path you take, but the courage to take one.