Keep Moving

 "You can't be here," A voice said as she stood in a doorway. The path before her was long and dark, the path behind her blocked. Unsure of how she got here or why she came.

"Where am I?" she asked, a look of unrest and shock in her eyes.

"This is the path to eternity," the voice spoke again.

"Eternity?" she asked confused, "but I'm not..."

"but you are."

She let her thoughts wander trying to remember if she had actually died. She looked down to see she was dressed in her favorite jeans and a blouse her grandmother gave her for her birthday a few days ago. Nothing unusual or out of place as far as she could tell, except she was here, this place. She took a step forward and felt something close in behind her. She turned to see nothing and took another step, again she felt it.

"Keep going," the strange voice said.

Another step and she turned again feeling the same. This time she noticed that the wall was still directly behind her even though she had taken a few steps. She thought to herself and then took a step back as she faced the wall. The wall remained in place so she turned around to face the open path. When she saw the open path she felt it again and turned to see the wall had moved directly behind her.

"I'm not getting anywhere or this wall is moving," she said to whatever voice kept talking to her.

"Keep moving," the voice replied.

She thought about it then made a slight smile and rushed forward a few steps and stopped abruptly. She turned in hopes of seeing the wall move, but it was again directly behind her. A moment passed and she did the same, but this time facing the wall and moving backward, the wall remained. She decided to walk the path backward for a while and see what would happen. After several steps and no longer able to see the wall she bumped into something. She stopped and stared at the long dark path she had traveled and saw nothing but the emptiness of what she left behind. Her thoughts raced and she slowly turned to see what she had bumped into. Her face lit with fear and shock as she had hit a wall.

"Now what?" she asked the voice that had been silent for so long.

"Keep moving," the voice said.

"But I can't, it's just another wall."

"No, it is not, your actions have changed the path," the voice said.

"But there is nothing but a wall in the direction I came from, and this is a wall, so how can I go anywhere other than a wall?"

"Keep moving."

With no other option, she began walking in the direction she had traveled from. She stopped after a few steps and looked behind her, there was the wall. Confused and afraid she just kept going. The voice continued to tell her to keep moving. Finally, she stopped and looked around her, feeling she had been walking for hours now and no end in sight.

"Where does the path stop?"

"At the end," replied the voice.

Annoyed, she kept going. Now to the point of exhaustion, she stopped and just sat down. "I can't keep going, I am tired."

"You are nearly done, only a while longer and you can rest."

She sat there for a few moments and started again. She walked for seemingly a few more hours. Her body tired and weak, her mind frail from its constant wondering thoughts of where she was and why. She was about to give up completely and just not go any further when the light showed ahead of her. She felt an energy flow through her veins and her mind cleared. She raced toward the light and found herself at a crossroads. Now she had to choose a new path, but her lesson learned, she looked at each direction carefully before deciding what her new path would be.

Note: Life is about choices, there is no secret, there is no "one size fits all". We all have different paths and we all must learn from our mistakes in order to keep moving forward. I hope this tiny story encourages and inspires you to keep moving forward no matter how bleak it looks ahead. There is always a path to travel, even if we have to go back the way we came to find the crossroads and travel the right direction.