Is My Path Just About Me and Me Alone?
My path is only mine – but it’s not just about myself.
For over a decade I have been writing about my ongoing process of finding, creating, and choosing my own path in this life.
This has had many ups and downs and challenges along the way. But since truly starting to walk one path of my choosing or another, I have been more content, more satisfied, and frankly happier with the life I have been living.
While some might see the notion of Pathwalking as selfish, I do not feel that it is at all. That’s because multiple aspects of the path that I would choose are about how I can help, serve, and do for others.
On vacation, I attended a protest
This week, my wife and I were visiting Washington, DC. She had discovered that she could do research at the Library of Congress – and had made appointments and got a reader card to do just that.
While she did that over two days, I would go visit some museums and other attractions in DC.
And then, the horrific draft decision from the Supreme Court, explicitly overturning Roe v Wade, came to light. The fundamental rights of women across the nation would cease to be protected, and the door opened to taking away other fundamental rights in the name of “states’ rights” and “morality” and other BS excuses to oppress.
This is wrong. Period. The lives of the unborn over the lives of women – and denying them their fundamental given right to body autonomy and choosing for themselves – should not be the direction we are going. That’s 50 years of progress and advancing human rights down the drain.
I feel rather strongly about this, as you can probably tell here. So – knowing protests would occur, and being in DC as this happened, I went to the Supreme Court.
As a cis-gender male, I was very much in the minority attending this protest. But I joined the mixed and furious crowd to send a message to the jurists in the building behind me and the various representatives in the building in front of me (Congress). Keep your bans off our bodies!
This is the second time I attended a protest in DC. In 2017, following the election of Trump, I attended the March for Science.
Among the few things that I can do when faced with situations like these, I have written before that attending a protest is an option. And believing very, very firmly in a woman’s right to decide for herself what she does for her body – I joined the protesters to offer my voice of support.
My path is not just about me
This was is not just some gesture I am making for grandstanding, showboating, or to gain anything for myself. No. This is how I can be supportive of a cause I believe in, be present to represent the support of someone only indirectly impacted by this terrible decision, and help in one of the few ways that I can.
But that is, fundamentally, what my path is about.
Some people might see the notion of choosing their own life path as an act of selfishness. Let’s face it, putting yourself first has been increasingly demonized over the years. But if you do not act mindfully and choose your life experience – who does?
The thing is – choosing your own life experience doesn’t mean you become egotistical, greedy, narcissistic, or otherwise unpleasant. What it means is that you choose your path – rather than cede that choice to circumstance, someone else, or whatever.
My path in life that I have chosen is majorly not about me. While I choose to live on my terms as best I can, much of that is in service to others.
My path involves teaching, helping, educating, and inspiring. Opening minds, sparking imaginations, expanding creativity. My path is not about me in that it’s about how I can do more for others.
Every path is as unique as every individual on the planet
My path is not your path – and vice versa
Like snowflakes, no two paths are alike.
They might be similar. There might be tons of nuances that are identical. But they are not the same.
What, how, why, where, and who you are is not the same as what, how, why, where, and who I am. And that’s ok. Thus, I can choose my path – and my focus to help, teach, and inspire others – without impacting yours.
That’s because this is an abundant Universe we live in. There is plenty to go around for me and you.
This is part of why oppressive laws are so enraging to me. Limiting access, denying body autonomy, and everything else tied to this horrific pending decision by the court opens the door to further denial of rights and oppression – and they know it.
My path is not selfish because true selfishness causes intentional hurt and harm. Denying rights and oppressing people, FYI, is selfish because it causes intentional hurt and harm. Choosing to live your life on your terms might cause hurt and harm when you leave people behind or stop being a doormat for some – but that’s not selfish. It’s a matter of self-care.
There is not a single pie with only a few slices to go around. There is infinite pie, and more than enough slices to satiate and satisfy everyone everywhere.
You are as worthy and deserving of choosing your life path as I am. And whatever your path is – it’s as worthy and deserving of you as you are of it.
My path is not about just me. And I will continue to walk it to do all that I can, in whatever way I can – writing, voting, protesting, speaking, whatever – to live as I choose and help you do the same.
Thanks for being on my path. Are you choosing your path?
PS – May the Fourth be with you!
This is the five-hundred and forty-first exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – using mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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