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GordonJ
August 5, 2007, 11:30 AM
Ah, I thought this might be a good time for an Update.

It's been many years since I wrote "The Crossroads of Life"; found at http://www.sowpub.com (http://www.sowpub.com/)
And in it I say it is easy to choose which road to take if you take your destination with you...not have a destination with your happiness awaiting.

I have recently created a yellow brick road with a few forks in it. I'll share how I've done it, and why you might get something from my experiences, OK?

It started with a spider bite. Years ago, this probably would have been a couple of days of irritation, but since my diabetes, and especially my ignoring it in the early stages that resulted in a reduced immune system, it was more than a couple of days of healing.

So I have a longer healing time for any old scrape, scratch or bruises. And when a nasty old spider or mite or tick or perhaps the real ALIEN invasion (microbes?)...gets you. YIKES.

It knocked this ol boy on his butt for a month. My doctor didn't want me to be active because that "pumped" the poison through my system. Even now after a work out, or a walk, my arm still turns blue around the bite.

It was a pain in the tush time, but an opportunity to read, think and contemplate my life. I won't bore you, just yet, with those details...but what came out of it was the concept of creating my own crossroads.

In June/July I read the archives of SowPub, plus the archives of the old forums I visited and participated in...thank goodness I'm anal about saving things...or is that just a form of my A.D.D.??? Whatever.

I haven't visited the old Barney's Busy Corners for some time though I try to make it at least once a year... there is a small park where the Alexander mansion once stood...so designated because it was the smallest house in Cuyahoga Falls that a family actually lived in. Oh, there were a couple of old guys, hermits, that had shacks a tad bit smaller, but not by much. And the tool shed across the street looked very inviting to me.

The two kids my younger sister used to play with have died in the last year, the little girl who was like a twin to my sister committed suicide...and her brother passed away this year from a disease that should only afflict people much older than he was.

In fact, there was a lot of death I could feel from that old neighborhood...and yet, there across the street, at Mrs. Saska's house, the bees were still buzzing around her peach tree. Life goes on.

Anyhow, when I was a kid I used to imagine what places and adventures lied over the horizons, as I wrote about in Crossroads.

So during my spider induced reflective moments, I asked myself the question that I've been asking others to answer for decades...What do I want?

THEN, I wrote down on paper the HOW to get it part.

And it was very clear to me. I had a lot of choices. TOO many.

A LOT of things I could do, some of them pretty well even. Others were things I thought I wanted to do...but have lost some of the sparkle they had when they were shiny new ideas.

The one idea that I came up with was this...I had to initiate my own CROSSROADS.

I had to give myself the CHOICES...and as I was doing this and using the Binary Matrix to rate them...hoping one might surface as the dominate WANT...alas, they rated out the same...

So it doesn't really matter which road I choose to take. OR whatever anyone else chooses to do that I'm involved with, or want to be involved with. It really doesn't matter.

I've initiated some projects. As I'm writing this, I have a proposal in for a book. I'd like to do that, but if they say NO, then...

I have a proposal in for a SIX month project that will occupy my every waking moment, but could lead to things and places I can't even imagine...see, a REALLY BIG project, but with short term take-off plans. I know I can't handle any longer term assignment than 6 months, and that may be pushing it.

I'm sitting on a couple of projects that I can do, and WILL do if the proposals fall through. Both will help me feed the bulldog, and both are interesting enough to keep me from being distracted. And have the SHORT term element to them.

I've DISCARDED some ideas, some things I thought I wanted to do, and some people I thought I might like to work with...that was a hard part. I've LET GO of some old memories that I may have thought would be nice to rekindle...I let go and looked ahead. It is hard to let go of some things, some people, isn't it?

And what I saw was a yellow brick road with several forks in it. Then, I realized it doesn't matter one iota which one I take. They all lead to happiness, prosperity and joy. Because those are not the destinations, those are the things I'll take with me.

Have you created a crossroads for yourself, by design? Some have, we've read about their goals.

But most of us travel along our path, the one with the least resistance, and choose which fork in the road as they pop up...and that's when we find ourselves in the briar patch of life...getting all scraped and cut. A lot of green and red bricks road out there too.

Take a moment and THINK about your path and what you are taking along on your journey...It's great to have a destination, but pack your bags with what you have already...and you have plenty friends...and enjoy whatever road you choose.

Some thoughts from the self-made Crossroads of Life.

Gordon Jay Alexander
From the Banks of the Cuyahoga River, at the turn.

PS. Don't forget (I'm NOT going to let you) about www.flylowcollectdough.com (http://www.flylowcollectdough.com) and www.hotsheets.info (http://www.hotsheets.info)


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