The Fork in the Road

Last night, I was speaking to a friend who has had a rough couple of years and has made some bad choices. I think I need to stress this point right now "people who make bad choices aren't bad people." For instance, a man who grew up in a home where his mother was abused daily, may become an abuser. He is making bad choices because of the circumstances he witnessed as a child and than become conditioned to believe were appropriate responses. When he becomes aware of that fact and continues to abuse his wife and not seek help than he's a very bad person...lol
Anyway back to my friend,he decided to leave all his friends and family behind and start his life anew. He moved out of state and is now getting his life back on track. There was a time I never thought he could make these changes. I didn't believe in him. Actually, it didn't matter whether I believed in him or not, what mattered was if he believed in himself.
We all make bad choices in life. We get to a fork in the road and decide to take the wrong path. What we fail to realize is when we make mistakes we can follow that trail right back to its starting point and pick a whole new path. That's the beauty of life. Now I'm not saying there are not choices that we have to pay consequences for because there are. What I am saying is that we can get right with ourselves, acknowledge our mistakes, learn from them and keep moving forward.
The determination and will to want better for ourselves is what drives most of us on a daily basis. It is intrinsic to us. Some people have to work on that will power, some people don't know they have it and others choose to remain hopeless. I believe our life is full of choices. We can either choose to be happy or we can choose to live in misery. Most importantly, its' never too late to make the choice to change our life as it is.