Day 4 of blog every day in May challenge - favourite quote and why I love it.
This is hard, man. I've always been a bit of a quote junkie, and with the invention of face book and Pinterest, my addiction has become even worse. I have quotes in frames in my home. I will sometimes write a quote in my diary when I know a particularly tough day is coming up, just to give me a bit of inspiration on the day. I drive my kids mad with quotes all the time.
So picking just one is almost impossible. But, here we go.
According to one source, the origins of this quote lie in an anonymous poem published in Wisconsin in 1852, or maybe it is an African proverb, but what appealed instantly to my angry teenage mind when I first heard it was the message to take control of your own life. Be friends with everyone but be careful who you trust, because in the end, we are responsible for what we become, what we do, who we are. My fate does not depend on the whim of others.
This was a light bulb moment for a teenager living in a share house, doing a menial job for a nasty boss, involved with a boyfriend that I should have given a wide berth to. (Ha! paddle reference!) It was empowering to think that figuratively speaking, I was the one with the paddles and therefore I was the captain of the canoe. I was the boss of me, regardless of what other people thought. I was paddling my own canoe. Only I can steer my canoe to where I want it to go, paddling it as fast or as slow as I please. And I owed it to myself to be careful who I let take the paddles.
Other quotes have come and gone out of favour, but this one hung around and is still probably the most important one I've ever heard. I still bring it out occasionally, to remind myself to either love many, or sometimes trust few, but to always, always, paddle my own canoe.
What quote do you love?
This is hard, man. I've always been a bit of a quote junkie, and with the invention of face book and Pinterest, my addiction has become even worse. I have quotes in frames in my home. I will sometimes write a quote in my diary when I know a particularly tough day is coming up, just to give me a bit of inspiration on the day. I drive my kids mad with quotes all the time.
So picking just one is almost impossible. But, here we go.
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| You can buy this print here |
This was a light bulb moment for a teenager living in a share house, doing a menial job for a nasty boss, involved with a boyfriend that I should have given a wide berth to. (Ha! paddle reference!) It was empowering to think that figuratively speaking, I was the one with the paddles and therefore I was the captain of the canoe. I was the boss of me, regardless of what other people thought. I was paddling my own canoe. Only I can steer my canoe to where I want it to go, paddling it as fast or as slow as I please. And I owed it to myself to be careful who I let take the paddles.
Other quotes have come and gone out of favour, but this one hung around and is still probably the most important one I've ever heard. I still bring it out occasionally, to remind myself to either love many, or sometimes trust few, but to always, always, paddle my own canoe.
What quote do you love?
