My mind is full of many thoughts tonight. This time of year is always marks new beginnings for me. My birthday falls near the start of the school year, so I begin a brand new year of life at the same time I meet a new class of students. Tomorrow marks my first contract day back at work; I am starting my seventh year as a teacher. In a few days, I will meet the first English class of my career. In a few weeks, I will turn 31.
Today while in Provo, I visited a beloved mentor from my college days. He told me the story of a rising basketball star. At only 16 years old, his professional future looked bright and he had the admiration of many. One day, however, he lost both legs in an accident and was resigned to the rest of his life in a wheelchair. His dream- his entire identity to that point- was to be a basketball player. After the accident, he had a choice to make. He could continue to cherish his dream of being a star or he could accept that true happiness might exist down a different path. The first choice would leave him sad for the rest of his life because of his physical limitations. Opting to find joy in an alternate route would bring personal fulfillment and significantly impact the lives of many others. Ultimately, he decided to become a motivational speaker and share his experience. Doubtless hundreds of lives were affected because of this choice. Years later, he told my friend that while he would always feel some sadness for the life he originally planned, he realized the alternate route might actually be the better choice.
This story inspired me greatly. While I cannot relate exactly to the tragedy he suffered, I understand some of what he felt. For most of my life, I believed true happiness came only after the fulfillment of certain dreams. Today, however, I considered for the first time that there is not one prescribed path to joy in this mortal life. Happiness can be found down a myriad of different roads. As long as my eye remains single to the glory of God, I can be equally, if not more, content down a new road than the one I originally set out to trod. Though this sounds an awful lot like common sense, it was an epiphany for me.
The trick is to profoundly believe this concept. The teenager in my friend's story thought a world without basketball would be forever bleak. Similarly, it is difficult for me to contemplate a fulfilling life without my treasured childhood dreams. But, as the end of his story taught me, it is possible to find immense joy in places one never considered. Choosing not to be sad- choosing to find joy in the circumstances we are in- is not an impossible goal. And it will teach us invaluable lessons and help us grow more than we thought possible. In the end, we may realize it was the preferred path. We don't have to suffer every single day because our life isn't what we imagined. We can instead make it the different, but happy, life we deserve. What a liberating idea!
It is with this new perspective that I begin the 2014-2015 school year and age 31. It came at the right time.