following the detour

august 13 | weekly warm-up

Write about a time when you chose to take an intentional detour in your life based on an inner need, desire, or knowing.

or

Write about a time when an unexpected detour that changed the course of your life and how you responded to it.

“Always consider the plot of your story as a series of opportunities for your character to reveal his or her true self. The plot should offer the character a chance to be better (or worse in the case of the antagonist) than they were in the beginning. The opportunities manifest themselves in the form of obstacles, roadblocks and detours.” — Joe Moore

Stories are driven by detours and choice moments. Sometimes the detours are unexpected and other times they are intentional. For the next few weeks, our theme will be Detours and Pivots, and we will explore this theme by looking for stories that reflect transformational moments in our lives and in our writing journeys. The stories we build around our obstacles, roadblocks, and detours communicate our values and life messages, and they reveal our truest selves.

For the past year, I’ve sensed an unwanted, but not unexpected detour coming down the pike. It involves change, conflict, and most importantly, it involves choosing myself. All things I’ve struggled with in the past. From my experience, when I try to ignore my gut instincts, eventually the whisper turns into a yell, the nudge turns into a slap in the face. In other words, if I ignore it, it will still find a way to redirect me. That’s the thing about detours, they can be unexpected, but they can also be intentional, and there are some that are a bit of both.

Intentional detours occur when you consciously decide to change direction. They often come from emotional or circumstantial shifts that offer us a moment of choice, a moment of inner listening and external action. Even though these detours come from within, they often cause resistance and fear. But they also present the opportunity to deepen self-worth and develop courage. Intentional detours are certain to bring about some kind of authentic evolution, even if the result is not what you planned. These detours can show up in our lifestyle choices, relationships, careers, and every aspect of our lives.

Unexpected detours are obviously outside of our control. One of my best friends decided in late July to take a trip to Hawaii this month with her husband, mother-in-law, and two little boys. She never could have imagined that wildfires would hit the islands they traveled to just a few days into their trip. They were expecting a tropical getaway, and they collided with a disaster. Fortunately, her and her family are safe, and the boys think they have been on an epic adventure. Unexpected detours, big and small, are part of the human experience. It’s how we respond to them where we can find the most telling stories about who we were, who we are, and who we want to be.