What I've learned (this is over a year old)

I'm a couple months shy of 24 years spent in this mortal existence. In this relatively short time I've experienced many things. More things, I think, than would a typical person of my age group be able to boast. Some experiences have brought me down while yet others have lifted me up. Although some of my experiences have brought me lower than I've ever wanted to venture I'm not quite sure how readily I would give such experiences up these "tough" experiences have made me into the person I am today much more so than those that have otherwise initially built me up. One's character is determined, I believe, not by how the individual responds to the good, but rather how one responds and reacts to the bad. As aforementioned, I've been through many of the good but have been through my share of the bad as well. Going through these bad experiences is always painful on some level. I've learned that bad experiences hurt the most when things are completely out of your control. If you can..t control a situation then you have no hand in the outcome. That, to some degree, scares me. What I've learned (and at the same time has at times hurt me the most) is that the path that YOU want to take isn't always necessarily the best path. In attempting to navigate a maze, the best route typically cannot be easily discerned while in the maze itself. Conversely, someone with an elevated vantage point would be able to map the best route. There..s only one person who has the vantage point in our lives. We too, as it were, are running around in a maze of sorts trying to find our way to the goal. We can decide to listen to the one with the vantage point or we can disregard it. Ultimately in the end we will be much happier and go through much less strife if we listen to the directions given us. Still, listening doesn't always take us in the direction that we want to go in. Going in the "right direction" will still have obstacles and trials. We may not want to experience or even navigate through such things.. but nothing worth while was ever easy and nothing easy is ever worth while. In the maze of life there will always be pain and suffering, both the good and bad alike. Likewise, choices and decisions will be placed before us.. some of which are much less than easy or obvious. As long as we listen to the "vantage point" we can be assured that we will head in the direction that we ultimately want to head. As we go through the obstacles in life we can take comfort that we always have someone to help us.. to guide us. Someone who has been through the same such obstacles.. who knows both exactly how to navigate such obstacles, and to comfort us if we don..t quite do as well as we..d like. Our vantage point wants to help, but it is up to us to heed the counsel given. He..s offering the map of the maze. It..s up to us to use it.