It May Be a Detour

We often find ourselves in a place where we are wondering if we made a mistake.  Did we make the wrong decision?  Did we jump at that opportunity without thinking it through?

I've had those thoughts plenty of times.  It's possible that we make mistakes along the way, but we usually can't undo them.  The best thing to do is look at where you are and make the decisions you have the power to make.  You can't move in reverse.  You can't click "undo."  You can't yell, "do over." You can only be present.  You can only make choices about what you will do next.  You can only move toward the future.

If you are in that place, wondering if somewhere along the way you made a mistake: yesterday, last month, last year, or 15 years ago, it doesn't matter.  It is in the past, you are in the present with the future ahead of you.  Don't think about this part of your journey as a mistake.  Think about it as a detour.

There are two kinds of detours.

There are detours where someone else makes you take a different route.  The road may be closed or under construction. You don't have a choice.  You must travel this other road and you will eventually get to your destination; it will simply take longer.  There was road construction in Yellowstone.  It took an hour to travel what should have taken 10 minutes.  While we were slowed down, we saw a herd of elk, a bald eagle and a bear.  We also had a lot of time to visit with each other.  While we were waiting in the car, a large rainstorm came. If we had arrived at our destination when we wanted, we would have been hiking in the rainstorm instead of safely dry in the car.

The other kind of detours are the ones that we cause.  We take a wrong turn or aren't paying attention or get lost.  We take a route we didn't intend.  Sometimes we are so off course, we aren't sure if we will ever get back on track.  We went for a hike through some unknown woods once.  We took at least an extra hour to get back to camp.  Some people were scared and nervous because it was getting dark. Some people enjoyed the trip.  It was beautiful and peaceful.

You never know what you will learn on these detours.  You don't know what you will see.  Sometimes the detour is keeping you from something more harmful you can't see yet.  Sometimes it's there to make you slow down and pay attention.

Don't get discouraged by mistakes in your life, they are simply detours.  You will get where you want to be.  Enjoy the journey.  Whether it is long or short, it's a new adventure that you can tell stories about one day.