The u-turns of life

As someone with no sense of direction, I've made many u-turns on roads near and far. Sometimes I do have a feeling that I'm on the wrong road or going the wrong way but don't know how to fix it other than with a u-turn so I can backtrack. 

A u-turn is not a fork in the road where the decision is one way or the other. It is not an intersection with a left or right choice. It is a gentle or harsh half loop to intentionally go over ground already covered, to retrace our steps with the hope of a different outcome. That outcome may result in a total change of direction or perhaps going farther along the road we were originally on because we hadn't gone far enough. 

On highways along the median and at major intersections there can be signs that indicate if a u-turn is permitted or not. I find those signs oddly comforting, knowing that I'm not alone in needing such an option. 

U-turns are similar to do-overs in that they allow for a different outcome; however, in many do-overs you get to erase the first attempt. Not so with u-turns. The initial wrong choice and the lost time remain part of that trip and that experience that got us from home finally to point B.

It is not just when driving a car where u-turns may need to be made. There are times in our life journey when it would be helpful to u-turn, whether it is in a relationship or in a personal challenge we are facing. Too often we continue straight ahead, forgetting the u-turn option. Maybe we keep going because we've been taught to always plow ahead or to work through the pain and we interpret that as needing to continue forward. 

Our nation and humankind could do with a few u-turns. We are on so many wrong roads, are headed in so many wrong directions. If given the possibility of one collective u-turn, I wonder which power struggle you or I would recommend for an historic rewrite. Unfortunately the list is endless.

U-turns have been on my mind because of my recent vacation. My sister-in-law and I took a couple of day trips with neither detailed maps or a GPS.  Because she also is directionally-challenged, we luckily could laugh together over the number of u-turns we made on each outing. Decades ago, in the era of AAA trip-tix and after another vacation, my traveling companion gave me a key chain engraved with the title "U-turn Queen." Some things never change. Some things may be improved with the use of a strategic u-turn.

Marilyn