PATH BUILDING

PATH BUILDING
By: Anthony Mikatarian

We each communicate, feel, live, aspire, dream, experience, spiritualize and think differently from others. However, everyone goes through tough learning curves and obstacles to fully awaken and embrace your unique God-given individuality and authenticity. 

My own learned advice is to relish in walking your own path. When you do this without interference, such as peer pressure, guilt and insecurities, the weight on your shoulders will lighten. Don't let outside forces or your own negative internal voices pull you away from walking your own path. This means that you designate your own path in a mindful manner.

When you start to walk your own true path you may find yourself being shunned by others. You can be thought and spoken of in a disparaging manner. Based on my own experiences, by walking and believing in your own path, the probability is great that you will find people displeased with you not following their beliefs and path. This may initially sting, but you will learn to realize those people were only holding you down. 

Walking your own path requires your complete accountability to yourself. You are the all-inclusive founder, architect, CEO, laborer and walker of your exclusive path. You will no longer be accustomed to living in a figurative cage and bust free from it. For a good portion of people, the rooted mistrust they have in themselves inhibits their ability to act, which ultimately leaves them with only the dream of making their own path.

In creating your new path, you can find yourself perplexed on how to start. Going against the grain can be frightening. You may also receive resistance from your previous social conditioning on clouding your judgment on what your true path is. There are many who believe the righteous path to follow is the one of titles, degrees and stature. There are also path builders who believe their way of thinking is the only proper path to follow. These can come in forms such as good intentions, misguided intentions, obnoxious, pompous intentions and, unfortunately, those unscrupulous self-serving path builders. Obviously, the unscrupulous types are the most dangerous. They utilize purposeful tactics to have you blindly follow their herd through intimidation, manipulation and discrediting bullying along with deceivingly clever phoniness. 

As a fact of life, people will find themselves at a crossroads, where some or all these mentioned paths will be offered. Many will find themselves (intentionally or unintentionally) taking the bait by choosing one of these paths thinking it's the right one. It's OK, though, because I feel it is a temporary necessity to experience them for ourselves in order to grow and become the man or woman you were destined to be. You will gain valuable life experiences and lessons from every path, even when it is to benefit others at your own expense. You will gain the knowledge of what you want to aspire to be and what you never want to aspire to. 

By braving your own path, you will eventually be rewarded with many freedoms, as well as gaining physical and emotional well-being. Some are as follows: walking and creating at your own pace; excitement of walking the unknown; emotional, spiritual and psychological well-being. New doors will open for you; you will gravitate toward people who truly back you and encourage you; and you will find the strength to back and encourage others while gaining your own independence. 

To walk your own path, you must have a warrior mentality.  You will have to break through all the negative obstacles to reach your fulfillment. You will get beat up. You will sustain injuries and failures along the way. You will be ultimately tested, sometimes to the brink of being knocked out. However, with your warrior mentality, you must keep moving forward. Remember: If you are still breathing, you are not out of the fight!

In order to pave your own path, you must first love and rely solely on yourself. You will need to know what is really important to "you" and who "you" really are. You need to be laser focused and must question everything presented to you. You will have to discern between what is positive or negative for you. You will have to discern between who is good-intentioned and who is a predator. Most importantly, understand you WILL receive repercussions and backlash, especially from the predators. Stay the course! You will eventually start realizing that you are unique, confident and beautiful in your own way. The genuine personal relationships you had already established and the new ones you will form as you transform will be the ones who will truly satisfy you in your continued growth. God Bless and stay safe!