A Poem for Breaking Barriers

posted 18th November 2008    Written by: Molly Mahar    CATEGORY: All Posts, Creativity, Inspiration, Molly

Back in January of 2007, I quit my job.  It was a time of excitement because I was leaving to travel the world for a year with the Big Man.  It was also a time of straight up terror- because Hello!- I quit my job.

The terror came from the fact that I was breaking the mold of a traditional path: get your degree & get a job.  I had definitely done that.  But now I was leaving, selling my belongings & traveling the world.  I was, gasp, at odds with the status quo. And a surprisingly large number of people had no problem informing me of this fact…

“You can’t just quit your job!  How will you survive?  Won’t it look awful on your resume?  Who will ever hire you again?  I can’t believe you did that.”  And on & on.

This poem was a lifesaver for me in the face of naysayers. It reminded me that I was choosing a path that I wanted, that I believed in & to heck with what everyone else thought.

The Journey
by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice –
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Sometimes you have to listen to yourself and trust that you know the path to your truest & best life.

photo credit: james jordan

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Comments (1)

One Response to “A Poem for Breaking Barriers”

  • Ken Says:
    December 4th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    Great poem, and great site. Congratulations on the lauch!
    Ken

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