If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise, you’ll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you’ve already been in. Anne Lamott
Dove’s new Choose Beautiful campaign showing women choosing to walk through either a door marked Beautiful or Average encourages us to question how we feel about ourselves. Do we judge ourselves to be beautiful or average?
Door in La Tour-d’Aigues, France.
It got me thinking about other doors in life that we choose to either disregard or to go through. The saying that when one door closes, another opens. However, even when a door is open, we sometimes choose not to go through it perhaps out of fear, a sense of inadequacy or uncertainty.
Door in Aix en Provence
I love doors and when I travel take photos of interesting ones. A door creates intrigue. What is behind the door? Who lives there? What history has this door seen? Doors represent imagination and possibility to me and I love them.
However, when it comes to choices in life there have been several times when there have been several doors I could have opened.
When I was seventeen I had the opportunity to go to Glasgow to study at a university there, but I was too scared to go. I stayed in Perth and studied here. If I had more self-confidence or knowledge of the world, I would have gone—I think!
But, there’s no reason to regret that choice. If I’d gone to Glasgow, perhaps my life would have been very different, but my life has been great!
We can’t go back and reopen doors. Even if we did go back it wouldn’t be the same. We wouldn’t be the same. We can only go forward.
Every day we have choices—doors to open, close or ignore. What will I say yes or no to? Do or don’t I? Will I or won’t I?
I hope I open doors from a place of confidence, not fear or inadequacy.
#365adventure is a book lover’s year of adventures. Adventures in travel, friendship, family, soul, heart and, of course, book stores!
