The Fork in the Road
by Kathryn Tristan

    Yogi Berra said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” This native St. Louisan and Hall of Fame baseball player quipped whimsically, but wisely. Our lives consist of many forks in the road. These unplanned, unexpected and often unwanted crossroads can also bring about major crises in our lives. How we handle life at the crossroads will either propel us into stress, sadness and depression, or steer us onto a path of power and peace.
    To chart the best course, there are three empowering strategies we can choose: perception, planning and perseverance.
    Perception packs the power of choice into our pockets. Instead of feeling like the poor-me, helpless victim, we can choose to perceive the difficulty differently and our choices will have a major impact on how we deal with it. Major crises or even lesser challenges can shake us out of our complacency and comfort zones. The Chinese, however, may have the best take on how to think about our forks in the road. The Chinese word for crisis consists of two characters. One means danger and the other means opportunity. Imagine that! A crisis or crossroads may also present new possibilities.
    Thomas Edison performed well over 1,000 experiments until he perfected the light bulb. One reporter asked if he felt bad about his number of failures. The wry Edison said, of course not, because he then knew 1,000 ways not to make a light bulb.
    The second strategy is planning. Although we can’t always plan the exact route to travel, with a little flexibility and planning we’ll get there. After all, we can’t change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust our sails to reach our destination.
    The third strategy is perseverance. This quality can get lost in our “instant message” and real-time “texting” world. Being perseverant can be difficult. Robert Schuller, a minister, speaker and eternal optimist said, “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” Being tough-minded, determined and steadfastly optimistic keeps you in the front seat of your life, not squirming in the back.
    Two brothers sought their fortune during the great California gold rush. Soon thereafter, they discovered a small vein of the shining ore and staked a claim. But as they continued to mine the area, all they found were rocks — no more gold. They continued for awhile, but soon gave up in disgust, cheaply sold their claim and returned home.     The new owner began digging where the former owners had left off. About three feet deeper, the new owner struck gold and became a millionaire. Persistence can reap great rewards because sometimes you just need to dig a little deeper. 
    As you travel the long, uneven, bumpy path of life, be prepared for some forks in the road. Become fully conscious of your absolute power to guide your perceptions, to flexibly create plans, and to patiently persevere along the way. As the saying goes, it is the journey that counts, not the destination. It is the walk along the road, rather than the arrival that provides the fuller measure of your life.