The Road Less Traveled

By Aleathea G. HIgginbottom –

Someone said something to me the other day. They said, some of us are different in the eyes of the masses. We are not like everyone else. I said in response that different is the road less traveled. In other words, being different can be a lonely place.

In a world where the majority rules being the minority is, what it is; Minority (the smaller part of a number, the few). Being a minority means that one has a different belief system, idea, or something that is obviously unlike the larger group who have those things in common. You can be different than your family, classmates, coworkers, sports team, church setting, support system, etc. Regardless to which group or all of them, being different can be a lonely place.

Some of us had parents that gave us a strong foundation on which to stand concerning our convictions and being an individual. Some of us were not so lucky and had to learn the hard way, that being different is not a disease or a prison sentence to be ostracized. It is one thing being weird and annoying, but another to be confident and okay with being oneself, without needing approval to be that. I must admit, it took a long time for me to come to grips with being different. I didn’t have that strong base that taught me it’s okay to be who I am. I had to find me first through much of life, and then I was able to recognize the beauty of my own contribution. Rejection doesn’t mean that I am unacceptable, it means that whatever rejects or has rejected me doesn’t/didn’t agree with me, and that’s okay.

We all have a right to our own opinion and need. I just wasn’t the one to fill that need in whatever situation. So it is now my right to find where I fit in, and make the decision to whether something else will fit my need or situation. This revelation is true freedom; because it takes away the sting or the forced trauma that rejection can bring. It is all about the knowledge of my own self worth. When that is established, the sky is the limit and freedom is all that it is meant to be. It’s meant to allow me to be me.

Aleathea G. HIgginbottom has been an ordained minister for 26 years. Author of the life changing books, “The Only Way Out is Up and Love, Poetry and Other Things.” A Motivational Speaker and Mentor, Currently a College Student pursuing a Bachelors Degree in English.

Website Address: http://www.aghministies.org/