If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving a new one.

Do you remember being a child and wishing that you were grown up so that you could make your own rules and set your own bedtime and eat anything you wanted whenever you wanted? I sure do. And boy has adulting turned out to be different than the wishes of 8 year old Kim! While it turns out my “I pick it” ?bedtime looks a lot like my childhood bedtime and that I don’t get to set all the rules in my world, I do have a lot of autonomy. I can declare my house an “orange-free zone” because I’m a UGA Bulldog and I simply do not like orange in any form. I can decide what food is in my refrigerator and how and when I exercise and how much news coverage I watch and a whole host of other things.? (Side note, I am a lucky privileged person. Period.) The flip side of that autonomy of course is that I’m not only choosing the “thing”, I’m also choosing the consequences of choosing the thing. I think that’s where a lot of us get stuck in our careers and in our relationships. We say we want to do the choosing, but we don’t always want the work or consequences that come with choice, so we keep walking the same path.

Staying on the same path, while declaring it unfit for you, is a lot like being an adult and wishing you were still a kid. You have the power to change your path, but you choose to just stay where you are and wait for someone to change it for you – wait for someone to tell you what to eat and when to go to bed. One of the great joys of being a grown up is the amazing amount of choice we have. Choices aren’t always easy, and the the work that comes after the choice is often tough. After all, change is rarely easy, but usually quite worth the effort.

Are you waiting to be told your bedtime? Or are you brave enough to make your choices?? Be like Dolly. Pave your own path.