Hail, the Weary Traveller

Life has a funny way of going around in circles. You head out looking at the horizon, travel a few miles and then one day you turn around, look around, and lo and behold, you are back where you started out from. With some memories added on from your journey. One given of most travel is that ultimately you reach home, however long your journey. The friendly pillow, the familiar colours and smells of home, the sights and sounds outside the bedroom window, are a welcome change to living out of a rucksack. For a while. And then you start getting itchy feet and head out again.

Most journeys are enjoyable and you come back rejuvenated, refreshed, cleansed, ready to take on the world. You have met new people, experienced new things, digested local food, and explored new cultures. Then back to the familiar, with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.

Life is also pretty much like a journey. It is not a destination by itself … which I suspect is the ultimate moving on into the nether world … but a journey made up of a million little destinations along the way, every day. You like some, you hate some. You learn from some and some learn from you. It is a symbiotic relationship between you and everyone and everything around you. Oh yes, life is a journey like none other. And if you do not enjoy it, it can be a very painful experience indeed. Much like regular travel. Away from the comforts of the known, the future is always unique. It is unknown and unless we can take it in our stride, we will live a miserable life … in life itself or on the road.

Unfortunately, often times, in the journey called life, it is not always easy going. Particularly for the mavericks. Those who want to chart a future for themselves, swim against the tide, want to leave their footprints on the sands of passing time, life can be difficult. There is so much to do and constantly they seem to be beating their heads against a brick wall. Why are so many people walking the tried and tested? Why are people afraid to peel off from the mundane and chart their course in history? Of course, it is risky. But what is life without a little risk, a little adventure. History has shown that the path breaker has always been the one to change the world. It is that one person who liked to stand apart from the crowd. Sure, there are many many more who fall by the wayside in their quest for excellence. That is the name of the game. Life is like a boxing bout. You don’t fail when you fall down. You fail when you refuse to get up again. The crucial seconds of the countdown decide your future. Do not be afraid to fail. Keep trying. You may not quite succeed but you will not look yourself in the mirror and call yourself a loser. Success is about getting up one more time than you fall.

So much for advice. It is extremely difficult to live by them. There are so many logical reasons and justifications for us to stop taking that next step forward. Friends, family, money at the end of the month, food on the table, weather, health, finances, the pet at home, whatever. Excuses are there. Some call them justifications. When you swim against the tide, you better have very strong muscles. When thrown into white water, you need to know how to hold your breath. When you are going where no one has ever gone before you need to know how to tell your bearings.

Fatigue does set in though. And increasingly so when the hair line is receding, there are shiny patches in the back of your head, the breath cannot match up to the physical demands made by the mind. When age starts catching up, and you sit back and notch up your accomplishments, you suddenly realise that life has been a constant endeavour at chasing rainbows. The elusive pot of gold always lay some distance away and like the proverbial mirage in the desert, turned out to be an illusion after all. That is a scary realisation and from there on it is extremely easy to just sit back and give it all up. The mind keeps reassuring you that all the effort was worth it and that it was not wasted, despite what everyone keeps telling you and what results you have to show. After a while you end up believing it yourself and start looking at that loser staring back at you in the mirror.

Life is a wonderful journey when the going is good. But when the going gets tough, it tests the mettle of the strongest heart. And when the rough road ahead stretches on till eternity, it can be a very frustrating journey.

I seem to be at the crossroads of life. The mirror keeps calling me, beckoning me to take a long hard look at the person staring back. Is it a trier or a give-upper? Is it a person who is down on the mat or one who is trying to get up once again? Is it a winner or a loser? I have not looked in the mirror for a while now, scared at who will look back at me. I am not yet ready to let the referee complete the countdown. But the scores are getting louder and louder, and getting ever so close to my ear, drowning out everything else that tells me to get up.

Get up I will, I know that. But how many more times, I ask myself. The psychological and physical demands are getting a bit much. The straws on the back are reaching a threshold. The balloon has almost been blown to its full. Now I need to sit back and take a long hard look. Jot down the future as clearly and as lucidly as I possibly can. And then get up one last time, take a look at the mirror, doff my hat at it and move on again on the journey called life.

But, it is a tough demanding world for the weary traveller. I hope I reach my final destination soon. It cannot come soon enough.