The wrong path

If I were 50 times bolder – Day 3 The wrong path

If I were 50 times bolder I would tell you the story about a man that took the wrong path. The story has been passed on to me by Olav Storm Jensen. He tells it with much detail – I will keep it shorter.

It is a story about a group of people that are staying at a cottage in Sweden. One afternoon they go for a walk. At a certain point the young man decides to take a short cut home to the cottage. The others walk on. The young man goes through the woods and unto another road in the forest. He believes himself to be south of the cottage and starts heading north.

He walks for 1.5 hours. By now it is clear to him that he took the wrong path. He was not south of the cottage, he was north of the cottage and the more he walks, the further away he gets. He is aware of this by now, but anyhow he keeps on walking.

Even though he knows that he is walking in the wrong direction, he is not willing to admit to himself that he made a mistake and walked that far along the wrong path. And even though he is aware that he is not willing to admit his mistake, he still doesn’t stop. It is not untill the others come by car and find him, that he can finally turn around and go with them back to the cottage.

So why didn’t he turn around? Olav Storm Jensen explains it this way:

“Self-images, being/doing, true/false and quality of reality. The paradox in the young man's situation cannot, as far as I can see, be understood unless the concept of self-image is included in the analysis. Having gone so far down the wrong path obviously becomes for him not just something he has done, or something that has happened to him, something as human as that he has made a mistake. For him, it comes to point to something that he is, namely stupid.” Olav Storm Jensen, Kroppen i nuet og virkeligheden - om sandhedens f?nomenologi og subjektivitetens kvalificering (https://www.sensetik.dk/krop_nu_og_virkelighed ) (My translation)

And this confusion about the distinction between what we do – he embarked on a stupid path – and what we are – stupid – is quite common. We often make ourselves believe that if we make mistakes, we are a mistake. (I am an expert at that but am learning to distinguish). That is why it is often so difficult to admit a mistake – it becomes a question of – not just something we have done – but also about who we are and our right to be a human being with faults.

Being self employed and business owner doing what you love, investing your heart and soul into your business it can be difficult to make that distinction between what you do and what you are. But there is no way around it.

Would you like to learn more or would you like to discuss? Please send me a direct message and I will get back to you.

So, if I were 50 times bolder, I would tell you this story and post in on my Linkedin Profile. And this is me being 50 times bolder. Day 3. I will go on for the 50 days to honor my friend and to honor me. (See Day one for background: https://bit.ly/3RCRVj9 )

What would you do if you were 50 times bolder? Would you admit your mistakes to yourself and others? Would you listen to your inner voice when it tells you that you are on the wrong path?