St. John is a volcanic island that is mostly a National Park and therefore very undeveloped. With few exceptions, there are no posh resorts beyond Cruz Bay. We rented a house up in the hills near Coral Bay and that meant we needed to rent a car to get around the island. The first indication of the challenge of driving was that the cars were on the left side of the road, and 99% of them were 4-wheel drive off-road Jeeps!
The roads are unlike any I've ever been on before. They are an endless maze of steep climbs up, terrifying hairpin curves and then hair-raising descents with barely room for two vehicles to pass. Those are the paved roads and there are only two that circle around the island.
In order to reach most of the homes, you eventually have to leave the pavement to travel on dirt goat paths. These are only one car wide in most places, and would be considered impassible by most American drivers. They also climb dizzying hills and snake around blind curves. But in addition, they are littered with rocks, have deep ruts in many places, and washed out gullies in others.
Mastering the art of driving that vehicle full of nervous passengers constantly reminding me to "stay left" while native drivers suddenly appeared out of nowhere was a real challenge. But I actually enjoyed it. It's been a while since I had to test my nerves and reflexes in a physically fearful situation and it was exhilarating.
So here comes the metaphor - you knew I had one! Navigating those goat paths was not unlike navigating the way into our future. We sometimes need the equivalent of a 4- wheel drive Jeep to move out of the ruts and gullies we find ourselves in. And family, friends and colleagues can leave lots of rocks lying in the road to shake us up.
We have to proceed slowly and let one wheel grab hold at a time so that it can pull the others forward. We have to stay focused on the side of the road we have decided to follow. We have to learn to steer through the twists and turns with determination to stay on the right path to reach our destination.
It's not easy to change your career course or re-design you life but you can do it. Try to remember a time when you faced some sort of challenge and how you rose to the occasion. Remember the feeling of success you experienced? You can do it again.
"Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use."
Ruth Gordon
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