#Road May 10

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

“The ROAD Less Traveled” is one of the most influential books I have ever read. In fact I have read it several times.

This month I along with others are participating in a 30 Day Life Lesson Challenge. What is required to join is a willingness to share “Life Lessons” learned from someone else.

The author of “The ROAD Less Traveled” is M. Scott Peck who besides being an author was a M.D. before he passed away in 2005. The book was published in 1978, is Peck’s best-known work, and the one that made his reputation. There are several life lessons about this book I want to share.

The first Life Lesson has nothing to do with what Peck wrote in the book but it is about patience and perseverance. The book was published in 1978 and did not become a best seller until 1983. In fact it was only when it came out in paperback did the book gain traction. Sometimes the best lessons in life take time to take hold.

The second “Life Lesson” is one that I believe many people have embraced. It is all explained on the first page and in the first sentence. “Life is difficult“. The leadership gem is what Scott Peck adds to his first sentence. Those words have stayed with me when challenges present themselves.

Here are the opening lines that have been a great help to me.

“Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult–once we truly understand and accept it–then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.”

Deciding that I was not going to spend my precious jet fuel worrying became life changing for me. I am not perfect in the worry category but not consumed by it daily. Accepting challenges became a slow and steady path for me to grow spiritually. It was like Scott Peck book it didn’t catch on right away. I had to travel down that ROAD before I found what I was looking for.

The final “Life Lesson” involves problems. The quote from the book sums it up

“We cannot solve life’s problems except by solving them.”

M. Scott Peck thanks for writing “The ROAD Less Traveled” and the “Life Lessons” it taught me.