Anyone that has grown up in a large city are aware of detours.
They are these inconvenient travel nuisances, which appear without rhyme, reason or thought of where you have determined to go. They are normally set up due things being rebuilt, renovated or if they are falling down!
Keep this in mind, the best things in this life come through detours. As with most things, let us get a traditional definition:
noun. a long or roundabout route that is taken to avoid something or to visit somewhere along the way.
verb. take a long or roundabout route.
These things we learn along the way, I like to call, unsure gratitude. This ideal comes from realizing the things you desire to do, you cannot do, unless you learn how to do something else.
These things could be as small are realizing utilities don’t get shut off on Fridays, to as something as life-altering as financial aid. Pro-tip: you get better financial aid in the United States if you can either prove you are an independent student, or after age 22 or 23.
These pockets of information along your life journey seem either useless, nonsensical, or a general pain in your ass. However, this unsure gratitude is the thing which can also serve as wisdom; which can be given to another.
What I need you all to understand is gratitude, real gratitude, is diverse. It is complicated, and some of the best pieces of advice are often given to you at the most inconvenient time. Often this happens when you are asked to wait, reconsider or abandon one trail for another!
But, in the midst of the journey that is this life, be grateful! What you cannot use now, you will need to use later, or give to another. The detours will either allow you to proceed another way, or as a reminder to abandon the then unimpeded forward motion, in favor of something better.
What we often forget is that detours–even if they are nuisances–can be protective. In time. Effort. Expenditure of energy. The detours can save you time in traffic, or from starting the wrong job–or marrying the wrong person.
Pay attention to your traffic, Torches.
(Where are you going? How are you going to get there?)
Pay attention to your detours.
(What things are stopping you? How often do they occur?)
Don’t be afraid to restart.
(What are you learning along the way? How can you use it to help yourself or others?)
The detours mean something, pay attention to them.
The Ideal Firestarter 