How is it that we want to be both accepted as part of the crowd and yet, different and intriguing? Every time there’s a choice, I always pick different. I like being different and I’ve always liked being different. I could give you an entire history of how I’ve made choices that usually go against the flow rather than with it. I think that’s why I love Robert Frost’s poem; it models my own philosophy.

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

This poem speaks to me because it talks about traveling, my first love. But if you dig deeper into its meaning, it also talks about taking a risk, choosing a different path in life, and how rewarding that can be.

I could tell you all of the ways I’m different but that would be a lllloooonnnnnggggg list! I strive for different. But, I want to focus on my ethnicity. My ancestral line comes from County Tipperary, Ireland. For my 10th wedding anniversary, my husband took me to Ireland. Armed with baptismal and wedding records, we hunted for distant relatives and sought out the most-haunted Leap castle. Being Irish isn’t different, but looking for one’s relatives is a bit unusual. What makes me different is wanting to know more about other cultures. Learning about Ireland, not just shamrocks, was interesting and eye-opening. I learned about other languages, religions, and felt satisfied in my quest. I’m different because I seek out what’s different. I look for things not like me, learn about them, and learn to appreciate the contrasts. And, frankly…. sometimes I learn about how we’re also the same!

How are you different?