As a good friend reminded me, the only one pushing me is me. I’m doing the pushing. I get to choose to move along this path. No one is forcing me to take this route or travel down it at a certain speed. When I worry if I’m doing enough and making progress, I try to remind myself that I’m the one doing the pushing. I can rest or go slower. It’s up to me.
Choice And Responsibility
But, the only one pushing me is me. No one else will do it for me. If I choose not to grow, evolve and learn, no one will shake their finger at me and tell me I’ve failed. If I want to achieve anything, it’s my responsibility to do it. No one else has the authority or the duty to push me. Only me.
Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that as well.
Maya Angelou (2014). “Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou”, p.73, Random House
Move at your own pace,
but move.
Retired, And Now What? 