Obstacles (Trail of Tears)

This is what I recently faced on the Washington Duke Trail (aka Trail of Tears). For those of you who don’t know me I really don’t like to get dirty. I’m not sure when this happened because I remember enjoying making mud pies and loving puddles as a child but let’s fast forward to this day. I had been warned by a friend about ½ miles before I got to this area of the trail so I knew what was ahead of me. My mind started clicking…  Should I just turn around? Maybe I can walk through the woods and bypass it… Thank god I don’t have on my new shoes…Maybe my friend was exaggerating…how bad could it be?

When I finally arrived on the scene I evaluated it and stopped and took the picture. Ummmm. I could turn around and no-one would know (except me) or I could suck it up and continue on. What is my strategy? Walk fast or play it safe? After a few minutes it felt silly just standing there (and my Nike GPS App was ticking away) so I tried to delicately walk around the edge. That was not a good choice because mud started flowing over the top of my shoes so then I decided to walk quickly and then the dirty water splashed up to my thighs. You would have probably enjoyed seeing a picture of the horror on my face more than the water on the trail. So after my fear had passed I still had another 3 miles to get to my car. 


I usually walk to clear my mind and solve world peace so this got me thinking. We are faced with obstacles every day. Whether it involves relationships, work, health, spirituality or finances.  The list goes on and on. Realistically, we can only control our actions in each given situation. So for me the trail represents life in many ways. It’s challenging but rewarding at the same time. 

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