Dead End?

I'm really glad I don't live on a dead end street. Mentally, I wouldn't be able to handle it - driving home from work and seeing this "dead end" reminder day in and day out - that would be too much for me. I know my limits, for the most part.

Harvard Professor and author Shawn Achor writes about mental maps that are created following adversity or crisis. One map "keeps circling around where you currently are." His way of saying that the event produced no real change. The second map "leads you toward further negative consequences." In other words - the crisis makes you worse off than you were. The third map, or "Third Path" as Achor calls it "leads us from failure or setback to a place where we are stronger and more capable than before the setback."

I've always admired people who walk the third path. Their trials have made them stronger, more interesting people. I'm thankful to be able to learn from them. I think that's why whenever I see a "Dead End" sign I always - literally always - say to myself, "I don't think so." There's a way out somewhere that is more beautiful, more liberating - I just need to continue the search.