May the Road Less Paved be the Road that you Follow
“May the road less paved be the road that you follow” – an excerpt from the song Have It All by Jason Mraz
In yesterday’s post, I talked about acknowledging your own growth. Well, here’s another example of a mental growth I’ve noticed, compared to how I used to think 6 years ago. When I first drew this image, the tree on the right really, REALLY bothered me. I didn’t like how it was slightly angled. I remember wishing I could just rotate it slightly to the left, like I could on Photoshop.
So when I took this photo, I purposely took it from an angle and placed colored pencils in the right corner. I wanted to hide the fact that I wasn’t shooting this straight on. I tried to make the tree appear as straight as possible.
Looking at my drawing 6 years later, I have NO idea why I felt so terrible about the tree! Trees are part of nature. They grow crooked anyway! It’s what makes the image look more natural. In fact, I’m more amazed at the fact that I drew this in just one day, and more than that, that I was doing this every day with a 3-year-old at home. I was so worried about a non-existent, imaginary critic who expected perfection from me and Mother Nature, that I failed to give myself the proper credit I deserved.
While I do still have this ridiculous critic residing in my head, I know how to handle her these days. I know there are multiple ways of looking at things, and I can choose the view that’s right for me. I’ve learned that I can’t walk on the road less paved if I worry too much about pleasing others. It might be a safer road, but not a fun one!
We are all unique and deserve to express ourselves in an authentic way. I hope that whenever there’s a fork in the road, my son will be able to silence the critics and choose to step onto the road less paved.
