Do What Geese Do

The shortest route is not always the least challenging. Sometimes, it can be the MOST challenging.

Today while I was at the pond, I noticed a gaggle of geese (is that what they are called?) who were on one side of the pond and chose to gingerly walk across the frozen pond to the other side. They chose this route, instead of walking along the path (slightly longer but easier) or flying (definitely faster AND easier).

It made me consider why they chose to take the path they did.

I decided they didn’t want to take the faster, easier route because they learned something from their experience (I have no idea what – just go with it). And that got me thinking about life and the lessons that present themselves to us that we can choose to learn from (or not) based on the paths we choose.

When life gets hard, it’s tempting to look for the short cuts and take the faster, easier route.

However, sometimes the path might look hard but ends up being the shortest, most direct route. So you only experience discomfort for a short period of time, learn a valuable lesson and move on.

The shortest route is not always the least challenging. Sometimes, it can be the MOST challenging.

The moral of the story is, try not to avoid taking the path that you perceive as being challenging. Take a deep breath, ask for guidance and press on being mindful of the important lesson you will learn from your experience.