DIRT ROADS

Years ago the late M. Scott Peck reminded us in his great book The Road Less Traveled that life is difficult and that the way to make it through this life is that sometimes we have to take a road we would rather not take because it is too bumpy and fraught with obstacles along the way we would rather avoid. And, as he pointed out, we often take the easier road because, well, it is easier at the moment.

What we discover in the long run is that if we had taken the less-traveled road in the first place, as difficult as it seemed and perhaps was at the time, our life in the present would be so much better. Why? Because we are now dealing with the issues we would have encountered earlier and would be in our past but are now facing us. What may be even worse is that they are even more difficult to face because over time they have become more convoluted than when they first arose.

I was reminded about Peck’s advice, nay, warning, the other day when I say a t-shirt with these words: “Of all the paths you take in life, make some dirt.” In other words, deliberately take the less-traveled road, take the road that is a little bumpy and perhaps even dangerous. Put the GPS and maps away and see where the road leads. Take the hard way and not the easy one.

That, of course, goes against our normal inclination. Why on the world would we want to make our life even more difficult than it is at the moment? If anything, we want to find ways to make it easier, travel roads that are shorter and safer. Only a fool wants to add pain and suffering when one does not have to. Yet, the truth is that we only learn and we only grow as a person through pain and suffering.

When life is going well, we take life for granted. But when unexpected and perhaps even undeserved pain and suffering enter in, we are forced to face life from a different perspective. If we have never struggled, if we have never forced ourselves to struggle, working our way through that pain will be more difficult than it should be had we learned how to deal with the innate difficulties of life.

Athletes, for instance, put themselves through hours and hours of physical pain in order for their bodies to be prepared for when the game is on the line and something extra will be demanded of them. In the same way, we have to prepare ourselves mentally and physically when life demands more of us that we are used to. We have to be ready for those difficulties Peck reminds us about.

None of this is to say that we always need to take those dirt roads. That would be foolish because we also need to take roads that will allow us to be refreshed and renewed. It is simply a reminder that those dirt roads come into view for a reason. “Of all the paths you take in life, make some dirt,” is good advice and well worth implementing.