Hell Yeah! Being Open to Possibilities and Finding the ‘Hell Yeah’ in New Paths

I listened to a fascinating audiobook recently called Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. I’m not normally one for ‘four weeks to do X’ or ‘seven days to reach Y’ kinds of books, but I heard the author on a podcast and he spoke a lot of sense.

My biggest take away from the book was that we can’t do everything. Sometimes we have to choose, because as infinite as our souls are, our human body is finite, and bound by the pesky time constructs that govern our human existence, sometimes we have to choose. We then have to say goodbye to the paths not taken. Often our pesky brains will tell us, ‘if only we’d taken that other path, things would be so much better,’ but this book reminded me that the other paths exist solely in the realm of our imagination. We don’t know how they would have gone any more than we know how our current one is going to turn out, all we can do is try to enjoy the ride.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

I’m currently enjoying a new path studying for a Level 2 Counselling qualification. This course is taking me so deep in terms of self-reflection (and I air some of my inner most reflections on my blog for fun, so that’s pretty deep!) It’s also quite intense. There’s homework and reading, reflecting and writing. I’m getting so much out of it, and putting a lot into it, which is why I haven’t been present on Substack much lately. I’ve been writing to you all in my head though (I was so surprised to see I didn’t do a September post because I’d written it in my noggin, I just never managed to type it up!)

Our family life is also on the precipice of branching out onto new paths that will see job changes, house moves and school moves. It’s a lot, and there’s a voice that keeps whispering ‘maybe it’s too much, why not stay where you are? You love your life.’ All of this is true, and so often I’ve subscribed to the, ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ mentality, and yet something keeps drawing me towards change, and just because I love life where I am, it doesn’t mean I won’t love it somewhere else.

Photo by Mayur Gala on Unsplash

The mistake I made for so many years was in thinking that there was a life just around the corner where nothing ever went wrong, where I could make all my decisions with certainty and clarity and feel good about them all day long. Whilst it’s true I can make decisions with commitment, I’ve realised certainty is something that’s never guaranteed, because life will do life. I think my new mantra will be, ‘I don’t know, shall we find out?’ It’s working wonders as I try to help my daughter decide her next steps after school: so many choices, all good ones, so how does she pick? All I can tell her is to pick whichever one makes her go ‘hell yeah!’ And if every path gives you that ‘hell yeah’ feeling? Amazing, pick one and enjoy the ride!

Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.

-Voltaire

That’s why I’ve chosen counselling. The homework is long, the work is intensive, but I’ve got a ‘’hell yeah’ feeling about it, though I’m trying not to get too attached to how things might look after the course, because I can’t know for certain. Perhaps another ‘hell yeah’ feeling will grab me. I’m open to possibilities, and that’s such an expansive feeling.

Unfortunately, when one path is chosen, we often find ourselves parting ways with another (finite human, remember?) so for now I’m saying goodbye to blogging.

I’ve been blogging for five years over at Rae Cod’s Writing on Wordpress and a whole year here on Substack, I can’t believe it’s been that long! I’ve connected with some wonderful people over the years (you know who you are ‘cos you’re reading). My family and friends have been incredibly supportive, and I feel really lucky to have been able to connect to other people and deeper parts of myself through writing. My wholehearted thanks to all of you for being here and reading my words. I think I’ll always be a writer, it just might take different forms, and at the moment that form is homework!

So, for now, I’m letting this Substack path go, but who knows which path I’ll find in the future?

Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash

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To those of you who paid for a subscription, thank you. I wanted to let you know I have paused the paid subscription service and will soon cancel it, you’ll be refunded any outstanding monies owed, though feel free to stay subscribed on a free subscription if you still want to be able to access my previously published posts.