Choices

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

- Robert Frost

This quote by Robert Frost has been my aspiration throughout my adult life. Although the variation I found I sometimes appreciate even more: "I chose the road less traveled; now where the hell am I?"

Although Robert Frost doesn't use the word "chose", but rather "took", the implication is that he made a choice to take the road less traveled. And he states it "made all the difference." In that sentence he doesn't tell us if it was good or bad, but only that it was impactful.

As artists, we have choices to make about subjects, color, composition and style. I sometimes get overwhelmed by all the choices. Which brush do I use? What size paper? What kind of paper? We can become paralyzed by all the choices, or the choice we've already made, but we've still made a choice in that case to do nothing.

I felt I needed to embrace choices, rather than be intimidated by them. The way I did that was to realize I can modify my choices. Maybe I turn that blue into green by adding yellow. Maybe I add another tree or paint over that flower that doesn't look quite right. I can be humble enough to sometimes start all over and not regret the choice I made, but to instead learn from it.

Our life choices are like that too. Are there any choices we can't modify or change completely? I think that is rare. Starting all over is difficult sometimes, but still possible. We always have a choice. And that makes all the difference.