Our lives are in fact a journey that we must all experience at various speeds and proportions that make each one of them as unique and different as we are.  When we are young it seems that we cannot wait until we are older to be able to do things that older kids or adults do.  I remember being young and having many thoughts about what I would do if I were older.  Those thoughts varied from being able to stay up late at night to being able to own and drive my own car.  I always envisioned that being older would allow for people to take me more seriously or that somehow it came with this grand sense of prestige.  Before my adolescent years I recall wanting to make my own decisions and not having to consult with my parents about anything, including the consequences of those actions.  Then when I arrived at my adolescence I felt that I could not fit in or that somehow the more popular kids had that depth of self confidence that I thought I would have along with them.  Thank goodness for sports as it taught me self discipline, while they fostered my self confidence into thinking that if I was good at something that I had focus on.  During my college years, I learned that a lot of other people felt the same way that I did during my high school years and it gave me hope that somehow I would be able to endure many things that could lead me to achieve some type of success.  My barometer for success has also changed with my years on my own journey as it turned from the materialistic realm of inventories to a deeper introverted feeling of inner peace. Since my journey is not complete, I am not yet completely there on the self actualization path of inner peace, however, I see it in various forms on a more frequent basis.  I have definitely done a better job of letting go of the things that I cannot control, while being less bothered by things that are not as important as I once thought they were.  My hope is that the people that end up walking along side of me for a period of time as my path crosses theirs, is that I will add some value to them while I look for ways to embrace any value that they could add to me.   I hope that you embrace your own journey along with the many valuable lessons it has taught you, while you seek to reach your desired destination.