When we hurt the ones we love, there may be a heavy price to pay.  We may lose them forever. We also may make it possible for them to walk a path towards self knowledge that would not have been possible another way.  The unfortunate part of being human is that we are not perfect and that we will make mistakes, we will cause pain and we will experience pain.  It is with this knowledge that we must have compassion for ourselves and others.  We cannot walk a true path towards our real selves if we are walking on egg shells of avoidance or in efforts to make others happy.

Many of us live in fear of rocking the status quo.  We do not want the challenge and prefer to live in our silent desperation of comfort. We know deep in us there is more but we are content to live in our world of avoidance. We feel if we dull these feelings of discontent whether with excessive drink, material consumption, technology, etc. eventually we will ride out the boredom that we feel. We look at those around us fixated on their phones or strutting along with bluetooth devices attatched to their heads and wonder about human connection.  It is a sad sight to see those so engrossed in their outside world they fail to connect with the person sitting in front of them.  There used to be a time when only physicians were on call in case of emergencies.  Now it seems we are all on call and need to be reached no matter where we are.  Couples now reach for the computer first thing instead of reaching for the one lying beside them. It has become more important to know what is outside of ourselves than what is inside. We have ceased to connect.  To connect with what is inside scares us as we may have to look at the truth of our lives and come to terms with who we truly are. Looking inward may cause us to question our reality, might shake us to our core and cause a host of problems we feel we are not ready to confront.

Humans are hardwired to believe there can be only one way. We watch the path of others before us and feel this is the tried and true so we march on the road of others. It is easy to walk the trodden path.  It takes great courage to carve the one that is only meant for us.  Others will shun, ridicule, ignore, or express anger and righteous indignation and make it known that we are the ones with the problem.  A midlife crisis is what it will be called with words such as sophmoric, irresponsible, and selfish.

When we are called to shake up the status quo or challenge the current paradigm, we may doubt our own sanity and the comfort of reverting back to the known will be great but we must continue the journey.  We must love and care for ourselves with compassion and trust that we are being led and cared for.  Those who truly love and care for our wellbeing will have our back.  Just trust.