If You Want To Live, Take The Road Less Travelled By

It is significant to live before we die. Life is but a prisoner who pines freedom. It is a tale survived by all but lived by a few. It signifies hope, it signifies transformation, and it indicates beauty. One must know how to live. It is in those smallest moments that we miss finding the true meaning of our lives. In a world full of hassles, we all fail to give voice to our thoughts, and that’s why most die life of ordinary.
One of the regrets that many in their death beds have claimed is not following their calling. Giving up their dreams due to fears. Fear of isolation, fear of struggle, and the fear of being different.
Here I recall the beautiful poem of Robert Frost, ‘The Road Not Taken’.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
The author stated that one always has a choice. A choice to either follow inner voice or follow the road travelled by all. It is then on that choice how his life goes. For this reason, one must live his dreams by choice. To make a difference, not for others but for himself, one must be ready to take risks.
Following a dream is always risky. A life with regrets is not worth living. We are all made of dreams that lived and died inside us. All of us have been at a point where we have questioned the reasons for our lives being monotonous and stagnant.
The answer lies in the fact that we have not lived up to our dreams. The dreams that used to make us feel lively. Dreams that we somehow killed.
As Oscar Wilde said, ‘Each man kills the thing he loves.’ It is but this brutal murder of wishes. Wishes that give us a reason to go for the quest, the quest to find the true meaning of one’s life. In the end, we all deem to remain in survival mode. Working as cogs, finding joy in a meaningless life, And then we name life as a continuous struggle.
In third world countries like us, we are used to giving up. All middle-class men kill their dreams in the struggle of getting a livelihood. Women, on the other hand, kill theirs in the worship of the household.
Somewhere in the battles of haves and have-nots, we all have forgotten to live our lives. The social roles and rules come with an unhidden pressure on both genders.
In the race of having the best, we forget to polish the best. The best that we possess within. We fear society. Pre-defined lifestyles have turned us into robots. Each day we are living in a desire to enjoy more than to live. The reasons are myriad lying in the up-bringing, that plays a part in letting us forget to improve ourselves before we step into practical life.
Nonetheless, it’s never too late to start again. It is to be kept in mind that the prerequisite of following dreams is enduring pain. The path to self-improvement is painful. As Aristotle said, ‘It is in our darkest moments that we find the light.’
There are myriad examples. Consider JK Rowling, a 30-year woman divorced with a girl, Oprah Winfrey being a girl of a housemaid and being sexually assaulted, Charles Bukowski living a life in misery, Virginia Woolf suffering from diseases and yet fighting. They have all endured the pain of circumstances, the pain of struggles and the pain of failure. Hence, pain is the path to growth. It helps us to work on ourselves and to strive for better. It is the time that tests oneself and prepares us for self-work and critical analysis.
Hence, all humans are given something special that needs to be polished and then it would work magic. It is that one belief that is missing. The belief is that it is important to give a voice to our inner thoughts that could bring a change within us.
We think we are all average, only a few gifted. However, even the gifted ones pursued their dreams first and then the world braced them with all the praises. Ergo, one must strive to be an inspiration for all those who fear. Saluting all those who worked hard, stood against all odds, and struggled for their dreams.