Creating new paths
When I first moved into my house 15 years ago it was the last house on the cul de sac with woods on 3 sides. More houses were scheduled and planned. There were perk test holes in the woods quite near my house. There were bulldozer trails where the surveyors had been.
Now, my house is the last house on the cul de sac with woods on 3 sides. Those houses were never built. Whether through good karma or good luck the land is all conservation trust land now. Buddy and I can frolic as we wish on the trails.
When I first moved into the house I headed out into the woods. There weren’t any set trails from the cul de sac back into the old farm roads. I made my own trails along the bulldozer path. I threw logs over the streams as roughly engineered bridges.
I knew f I could connect into the private property behind the farms I could get over to the conservation trails down by the pond. I ended up finding a way to connect the overgrown bulldozer trails with the 17th century farm roads through knee–deep meadows. I explored a few dead ends. I blazed my own way. I had my nice 10k trail loop.
When it rained I ran through the mud. When it snowed I ran made tracks through the drifts. When the grass grew high I trampled it. When the weeds and thorns grew in I ran through them. Over time I was joined by my furry little four footed trail daemon and we flowed like water through the uncharted ground.
When trees fell we either jumped over them or changed our path to run around them. When the mud got too deep in the spring melt we took to dancing along the tops of the ancient stone walls.
In time our path became a trail. Our feet creating a way. Others from the neighborhood and adjacent streets began to follow in our tracks. The land owners eventually sold the land to the town and it became permanently held in conservation trust. People now drove and parked to walk our paths. Buddy and I would meet and greet handfuls of travelers on any given Saturday or Sunday.
We trained for marathons. We trained for Ultra-marathons (6 loops of the 10k trail). We rode the mountain bike down the trail.
My crude logs were cast aside and bridges appeared. Trail markings and signs sprung up. Maps were made. The briar covered paths that Buddy and I had burned in with our feet were now official forest trails enjoyed by many.
Did I think about what would happen that first day I ducked into the woods off the cul de sac? No I just wanted to run and explore. Would these trails be there today if I had not run them so many times? If my habit had not beaten a path through the unimproved bulldozer paths? Maybe. Probably. If not me someone else would have made the paths.
But, don’t we all create paths in our lives? Don’t we unknowingly create an example for others to follow? Even when we do nothing special our habits and actions influence other people. Our kids may not do what we tell them but they see our actions and those actions like a resonating behavior have a causal impact beyond out words.
When we get up each day and fight the good fight. When we try to be kind, and thoughtful and diligent with our lives – it creates ripples, or echoes or reflections.
Be mindful of the path you are wearing down. Be mindful of the trail you blaze or trod. There are others that will follow. Make good choices in the turnings and ways. You have more influence than you know.