What is your life metaphor?. For example, is it a house party? A play? A Club scene? A box of chocolates? I liken my life to a grand roadtrip, where I'm driving a car (a "virtual" purple-metallic six-speed 2004 BMW M3 :) ) and there are countless junctions, exits, turnoffs, roads, highways, alleys that i can choose to take at any time. Sometimes it makes sense to take a highway because its the fastest, most direct route. Its the route that everyone tells you to take -- and for most of my life so far, that has been the path I've taken. But sometimes you chose to take the little country road that takes you off the beaten path. Sometimes that country road leads to a dead end, so you may backtrack and get back onto the freeway, or chose another road. Once in awhile, you get on a road that goes right through a barren and desolate desert. You may feel lonely, lost, helpless, and maybe abandoned. You question, why you went on this roadtrip in the first place. And when things look really bad, you might suddenly see a lucious, green oasis with water in the distance. But when you come to it, its all just a mirage -- it was never real. But yet, you stay in your car, and you keep driving -- knowing that you're almost THERE...wherever THERE is. So you just sit back, turn up the music and relish in the solitude of the moment -- and be thankful that you have air conditioning and a great sound system ;-).
And don't forget the people you meet on the roadtrip. The city people, townspeople, the villagers, the hitchikers...all of whom provide some education, some joy, some sadness, some insight, and even some levity! Some people are best left where you find them, others may be lucky enough to have you take them for a ride (or vice versa). But of course, there's always that one PERSON you pick-up that you'll take everywhere on your road-trip (if they say yes), and then it becomes a trip you BOTH share.
Like roadtrips, life isn't always easy, its easy to get lost, especially if you don't have a good map. And unlike a real roadtrip its always hard to answer the question, "Are we there yet?". So even though you may question where you'll end up, you know you'll end up *somewhere* -- (and hopefully somewhere pleasant, like a sunny tropical island in the middle of the pacific), so you just sit back and enjoy the ride!