🤠 How Wrong Turns Can Lead You to Great Destinations

Day 38:   Drive Drive Again

by Edward Smith

12 Aug 2020

To Gain Experience You Have to Travel

Ever since I was a little kid, I've believed in second chances.  I also grew up in a family that taught me the value of travelling.   The world is a big place.   Want to see it?  You have to leave your house.

Traveling is useful, because it teaches you to get out of your comfort zone.  When you travel, you put yourself out there.   You also learn about your surroundings.   When you travel, you never know where you're going to end up, and that is part of the fun.   

Life works the same way.   To live life, you have to take chances.   You have to try different things out.   To move forward, you have to get out there.  You have to be engaged.  You have to make choices.   

Every choice that you make leads you down a different road towards a different destination.  Like traveling though, you don't end up anywhere if you don't leave your house.   Get out there and enjoy the ride.

When You Make a Wrong Turn, Don't Give Up

Wrong turns can be scary, but they can also teach you a great deal.   You aren't stuck.  You never have to give up when you make a wrong turn.   Look around.    See where you are.   If you don't like where you are, or what you see, point yourself in a different direction and drive away.   

It's not about going in reverse.  It's not about undoing a mistake or fixing a bad decision.   Your mistakes are part of your journey. Wear those mistakes as badges of honor.    They act as reminders.  They become part of you, they make you stronger, and they keep you out of trouble.  Learn from them, and keep going.   

As you're driving around later, you'll see another wrong turn.   This time you'll recognize it.  You'll avoid it.   Life is cool that way.  Tons of roads to travel on, tons of different ways to get somewhere, and tons of ways to learn from what didn't work.   

New Month New Opportunities

July turned out to be a pretty good month for my household.  It was five weeks long in length.  It came with a beginning, a middle, and and end.   Thirty one days that resulted in a story.   The story included challenges, wins, and losses.   Some of it worked great, some of it fell apart, and some of it was catastrophic.  Doesn't matter though.  We survived.   We get to try again.  

Now that August is here, I find myself standing before an open doorway full of infinite possibility.   Every new month works like a second chance, and second chances are awesome.   New months are symbolic.  I get to stop what I've been doing, regain control of myself, take charge, and make a change.   New months give me a pass.   I can use them to transform.      

History Doesn't Have to Repeat Itself

When I start a new month, everything starts over.   Welcome to day one of a new chapter.  The chapter hasn't been written yet.  I get to write whatever I want.   I can go wherever I choose.   Even better, I have a safety net.  Even if I muck things up this month, I know another month will follow it.  I can try and then try again.   That's how you progress.   It's what humans have been doing since the very beginning.   Each fail is a building block.   Don't be afraid to play with the blocks.

 

Conclusion

In this article I talked about how new months work like second chances.   I believe everyone gets another chance.   In fact I believe everyone gets at least twelve new chances per year.  Even more if you decide to give yourself more.   Never give up.  Get out there, put your skin in the game, struggle, do something.   It will probably blow up.   You'll misstep into something unexpected.  You'll take a wrong turn, but you aren't stuck.

If you do decide that the place you're in, isn't where you want to be, use that moment of fear to motivate you.  Try again.  In fact, keep trying until you arrive at your target destination.   Life requires determination.   You have to have drive.   Be brave.   Go out and drive somewhere new today.  The stories you write will be epic.