While I was running the other day and thinking about our life, as I often do when trying to forget that I don't necessarily enjoy the physical act of running, but that I do it because it is good for my body and head, I started thinking about paths. How everyone is on a different path, multiple paths, and one person's path isn't necessarily better than someone else's. But the path that one person chooses to follow, might not sit well morally with someone else.
If you can find a path that feels right to you, that makes you happy and that feels good to follow, then go for it. But don't be afraid to take another path if the one you are on doesn't satisfy you, doesn't seem to take you where you want to go. Some examples:
-My husband was working for a small employee owned company that he helped create. He had a management position, but felt like things were stagnating. He wasn't going to have any opportunities for growth and he wanted more - to be able to flex his brain muscles a bit, to push himself more than what he currently had to. So he left that job and now is back in school, earning his MBA. Where this new path will lead, we're not sure. But he feels confident that it was the right one to take.
-My vegetarian path started when I was 16 years old. I believe that animals feel the same pain that we do, that they deserve the same respect and compassion that we do, and I am not comfortable taking their life, or having someone else take their life for me. Some things can't be avoided - yes, my dogs and cats eat meat; yes, heritage breed livestock won't survive if they don't serve a purpose, which is primarily being a food source - but my husband and I do not need to eat meat to survive. When I first became a vegetarian, I tried to convince everyone else to become a vegetarian too. After all, I was an idealistic, passionate teenager. However, I realized after many heated arguments that you can't change someone else's point of view unless they want to change. Even showing someone else the very ugly, point blank, black and white truth (literally black and white in the case of factory farmed dairy cows), isn't going to change their habits unless it is a path that they want to follow.
-The path that I am most focused on right now is our path of living a less materialistic life. This path should be simple, right? Just buy less stuff and get rid of the unnecessary stuff that we do have. But again, it isn't black and white. There are the things that we keep for sentimental reasons (my husband moreso than me), the well-intentioned gifts that we don't want to seem ungrateful for but that we just don't need, the things that perhaps we should keep because they might be useful in the future. We started down this path due to simple need - when I became a stay-at-home Mom (a whole separate path), we lost my full time income and so had no money to buy extra things. I no longer needed the nice dress to wear to the office (which I didn't really need in the first place). We no longer had the time to go to the movies or to enjoy a dinner at a nice restaurant. What at first was a change of habit by force, became a way of living and thinking that felt right. Now we enjoy eating at home more than going out - the meals are made from scratch from organic and local whole ingredients. For less than the cost of one piece of cake at a restaurant, I can make a whole cake (and eat it while wearing my pajamas)!
This less materialistic path is certainly not a crowded one - everyone else is still running towards the shopping malls (or flying down the internet paths). However, it is a path that we feel is best for our budget, for the sustainability of this planet (our miniscule part of it), and for the way in which we want to raise our daughter. To understand that when she does purchase an item, it is for a specific reason, it is a quality product, and when that item is no longer needed or able to perform its task, to dispose of it in a way that does as little lasting damage to this planet as possible.
I hope that in this New Year you find health, happiness, love, and satisfaction on the paths that you have chosen. If not, then strike out on a new one! This world is a big great place and you only have one lifetime to experience it.