Pathwalking 31
What is backtracking, and why is it the opposite of Pathwalking?
I have said before that the path is not always straight, will turn, twist, double back on itself. Doubling back might imply backtracking, but that is not the case.
This notion of backtracking is making a leap from where you are on the path now to a previous point. I’m not talking about switching from one path to another, I am talking about taking a pronounced leap backwards, to reset things to a manner they were in at whatever point you think they went wrong.
It is all well and good to analyze where you have been. If you don’t, how can you possibly know where you are, or where it is you intend to go? As with all other aspects of Pathwalking, this is absolutely necessary.
But once you have chosen to walk a path, when the results are not coming you may be tempted to “go back” to a certain point. You might want to return to a previous place along the path, and retrace your steps.
Certainly retracing your steps can be helpful, when searching for lost keys, your wallet, or your cell phone. But in Pathwalking, it is not conducive to the intent.
Why? Because you cannot go back.
One of the biggest mistakes we make as a society is that we get nostalgic for the past. I am not talking about history, this is about emotion. We often get that wistful, pleasant sense of familiarity in how things used to be, and find we long to get that feeling back.
Familiarity often feels like contentment, and maybe even happiness. But familiarity can be a dangerous, false mistress.
The way things used to be, and the concept of nostalgia often gets romanticized. It was a happier, simpler time; people were better; life was safer, etc. But the truth is, that was not how it was. The nostalgia is for an ideal, though the ideal was never the reality. But it can be easier to give in to the contentment of familiarity, even though it is a lie.
This is what I mean by backtracking in the course of Pathwalking. This can be very scary. In especial when much of your previous support has gone, and you are feeling alone and frustrated with the results thus far – or lack thereof. And fear is a powerful thing.
And then you find you want to go back. Go back to that point in time when all seemed right with the world. Sure, it was imperfect, but the money was coming in and I didn’t feel like I was being treated like a crazy person by my family…it wasn’t so bad. The job sucked, but I was good at it. Maybe I should go back…
Worst case scenario. Now you may be jumping off the path entirely. Maybe your leap back doesn’t take you that far, but it takes you to an equally irreconcilable point, and the path gets that much more complex and daunting.
We have to accept a singular truth in all of this. It is the reason why the feeling often associated with nostalgia is a lie, and why backtracking in general is unhealthy to us as human beings. That truth is this – change is inevitable.
Everything changes. Period. Sometimes that change is imperceptible…but it is happening. Even if you try to go backwards, change cannot be stopped, it cannot be derailed, it cannot be avoided. Change is inevitable.
But you can still have control over it.
Pathwalking is about taking control of your path in life. And a reason why the path twists, turns, shifts and curves is change. But what you do in change, whether through action or reaction is the issue at hand.
If you have chosen to walk your path, in all reality you have chosen to accept control over change. You are choosing how you will live your life, and as such how you make changes. Pathwalking is active, and proactive. Backtracking is reacting, and thus opposite. And that is why it is the opposite of Pathwalking.
How do you get back to the path if you have begun to backtrack, and why is that important? We’ll explore that in the next post.
When all is said and done, Pathwalking is about taking control over change. Pathwalking is action, where backtracking is reaction, and reacting to what life gives us is the opposite of choosing and following our own path.
These posts began as an attempt to take action on my part. I chose to write about Pathwalking, and then chose to follow my own words, and walk my own path. It has been hard, there are good days and bad days…but I have made a choice. And that feels right to me.
What actions have you taken along your own path thus far?
This is the thirty-first entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Thank you for joining me.
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