“TELL ME WHAT IT IS YOU PLAN TO DO, WITH YOUR ONE WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE”.

It is that time of year when so many young people are standing on the edge of life, ready to just jump off and hope they can fly? Or is the thought of stepping out on your own terrifying?  If you know where you want to go and how to get there, it is an exciting time but it is an act of faith to assume the route you have chosen is safe, and that you will end up where you want to be.

 Longfellow wrote, “How beautiful is youth! How bright it gleams with its illusions, aspirations and dreams! Book of beginnings, story without end, each maid a heroine, and each man a friend”.

The world you have reached on the other side of childhood now lies stretched out before you; it is vast, and full of exciting unknowns. Perhaps with good fortune, you can not see too far down any of the paths in front of you. Which ever one you take, life will create periods of euphoria and heartache alike, but if you take the wrong path, you don’t have to stay on it, changing paths is a chance to change your life.  

Chekov wrote “Happiness does not await us all; one needn’t be a prophet to say that there will be more grief and pain, than serenity and money, that is why we must hang onto each other”. So keep tight hold of those ties that bind you to family and friends you are leaving behind, as sometimes you have to look back in order to see clearly just how far you have come. 

It takes the courage of youth to strike out from the safe harbour of all you have known, and without a thought of stormy seas, assume life will be all plain sailing. One thing is certain life is never even and life is seldom easy but as you step out on this momentous journey, fill yourself with hope, imagine the highest goals you want to achieve and go for them.

"The future lies before you like a field of driven snow, be careful how you tread it for every step will show".       Unknown

 Title quote by Mary Oliver