At 5:30 this morning, I ran about four and a half miles on the Ole Miss campus. The north wind was cutting me in half and burning my lungs. I ran, thinking about my dinner from the night before and my speech that I’ll give in a few hours. I hopped over a curb and headed down a new path, wondering where would take me. What an amazing metaphor for my life.
I really don’t know where I am going most days. I know that flies in the face of great planning — and don’t get me wrong, I do plan. But the currents are constantly changing. New channels appear nearly daily. It’s hard to plan when your plan alters daily.
What doesn’t change is this flame that burns in my heart. It’s the same flame I had when I was eight years old. I KNEW I’d be doing this. I couldn’t have predicted the changes in the newspaper industry, the rise of the internet or even social media. But I knew I’d be doing what I loved. And I knew I’d be using my talent. In the process, I stumbled and failed. But I kept pushing. Sometimes it was pushing a mop. But I kept moving forward. And the flame never dimmed.
I ran down another path that took me to a different part of campus. It was a short cut that ran through a particularly pretty patch of woods. That’s kind of like my life right now. Every turn takes me down a new, more spectular path.
Last night I got to have dinner with two of the finest storytellers I know. Today, I get to tell my story in front of an audience. As went down the new path, I checked my watch. It said it has been a spectacular run but I still have a long, fun way to go.