A familiar saying popped up on another blog I was reading the other day. I’m sure you’ve hear of it before, a light at the end of a tunnel. I saw it pinned up at my place of work many years ago. Only the catch line read… There’s a light at the end of the tunnel— no it’s just the boss with a torch bringing more work.
It’s very scary stepping outside your comfort zone. Yes, the tunnel to success is dark, and it seems to go on forever. The light at the end being just a pin-prick that flicks so you’re not quite sure whether its a light at all. To get out of the tunnel and to succeed you must keep moving forward and believing in your goals.
It was my 83 year old grandmother who helped me see the light. I went to visit her in a London hospital. She was sitting in a chair beside her bed, looking so small after surviving her third heart attack. She looked up and smiled at me. “I was just sitting here thinking,” she said, her eyes full of wonder. “How would my life have turned out if I had taken a different route, from the one I made. If I had chosen a different path, made a different decision from the one I made at that key point in my life .”
I was 33 at the time, and in a bad marriage. I decided I wasn’t going to wait until I was 83 and had survived three heart attacks, if I was that lucky. I certainly wasn’t going to be sitting beside a hospital bed, wondering about what other routes might’ve been available to me, if I had just taken a gamble and stepped outside my comfort zone.
So after years of being unhappy I stepped off the ledge into a dark tunnel and just kept believing in the light at the end. It’s all about having faith in yourself and your dreams.
If you have read the column about me. You’ll know I started this journey with no qualifications, and have taught myself from books.
I don’t know where your journey began, but I do know where it could end, if you believe in yourself. The light at the end of the tunnel is waiting for you.
How wonderful that you have that photo of your grandmother. I am glad you made a bold, brave decision at age 33 and then again when you decided to teach yourself to write.
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It’s one of the many photos I took of her. My grandmother wasn’t very impressed when I told her I wanted to end my first marriage. She told me to bit the bullet and put up with it as she had to in her day. That day in the hospital changed everything. I put up with another two years of a bad marriage and once my son started school I got a job, and began carving out a new life for myself and my son. Another favourite saying of mine is : Don’t wait for your life to change, change your life. ☺️
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“How would my life have turned out if I had taken a different route, from the one I made? If I had chosen a different path, made a different decision from the one I made at that key point in my life?”
I love questions like this, and often ask them about my own life. So much so, I wrote a novel in the summer of 2020 which explored the whole concept, and it’s actually called A Different Path.
I’m so glad you made the tough decision to leave an unhappy marriage, Paula. It clearly paid off for you.
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I need to check out your novel, Brian. Yes, after three years alone and working long hours to financially support both myself and my son I met Russell. We are much happier and a real family.
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