Turning the Corner

Life has some changes of direc­tion. Some of those changes are sub­tle; some of them are stark. We often refer to them as “turn­ing the cor­ner.” We are a mobile soci­ety. The auto­mo­bile is one of our metaphors. By being in almost con­stant motion, we describe life in sim­i­lar ways. We talk of “forks in the road” or “the jour­ney.” There is some­thing about being human that demands motion and decision.

When describ­ing the recov­ery from an ill­ness, we often des­ig­nate when we “turned the cor­ner.” We started feel­ing bet­ter. The same is true in the recov­ery of a com­pany or an econ­omy. Some­thing shifts. We find a new direc­tion. The promises of life open up once again. Renewal awak­ens. We go from bleak to bright.

One day we turn the cor­ner from ado­les­cence to young adult­hood. These are ideal times. We are just enough kid and just enough adult to approach the world with charm, wit, and hope. We are also just enough adult to real­ize the hard work it takes to turn that cor­ner. The other tran­si­tions are all the more sim­i­lar but dif­fer­ent. We go from young adult­hood to mid­dle age rather quickly. It is tempt­ing to mourn the past or want to go back, but life is forward-looking. The road is to be trav­eled. The cor­ners are to be taken. Options become directions.

The smartest per­sons in the world are the ones that sense the dead ends the quick­est. They turn early. Your intu­ition is to be trusted on this one. It senses the turns long before they hap­pen, and they hint about the prospects of the oppor­tu­ni­ties ahead. Lis­ten to you inter­nal GPS. It arises from the soul. It has wis­dom “from above.”