This quote was only sent to me twice, but his message he added about the quote makes it an important one.

My thoughts:

My Dad was deep, complex, creative, different. He marched to the beat of his own drum, but him doing so alienated him and left him very lonely.

That was his reality though. Feelings of intense abandonment as a child, not being allowed to socialize as a child, comparisons with his older brother and much more led to him to years of coping with drugs alcohol starting at age 12. The substances gave him confidence and he felt he was able to “fit in” with the crowd.

In his late 40s, he hated his prestigious job , he hated the 32 years he worked for his company. I was older, his sidekick daughter was on her own adventures. He decided to leave the crowd, find himself, travel the continent as he had dreamed, and just do what he felt like with no consequences or judgement.

There were consequences though. He lost his marriage, his daughter stopped speaking to him for a year, he was burning through money traveling and boozing- with other extra curricular activities. He had gone from making $150k a year in a high ranking position, with a wife a daughter a home, to feeling completely worthless and abandoned.

If he could do it all again, i think he’d choose to follow his own path but with some compromise and flexibility.

I am so glad he got to discover himself, share his life with me, travel everywhere he wanted to, and enjoy the time he had. He clearly has amazing memories, stories and trinkets from his trips. Leaving the crowd, despite his struggles, brings me happiness when looking at all of these memories.

I think this quote to him meant “be true to yourself, live your life, be who you are, amazing moments await outside of the crowd. But also remember, that comes with a price, and loneliness is fatal.

Another interpretation:

From thesimplyluxuriouslife.com

“it can be at times lonely e for those who choose to no longer be a follower, but instead lead the life that many may not be choosing at the time. I mention that it is perceived as being a lonely place because in my experience, it seems that if someone doesn’t understand something or they themselves are afraid of it, they label it with a negative connotation.

The truth of the matter is, many people choose to wallow in their loneliness when they are alone, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Taking the chance on ourselves to strike out and follow the beat of our own drum is a gift to ourselves. Now, I won’t sugarcoat it and say that in stepping out, each of us will experience great success immediately, far from it more likely, but the alternative is living someone else’s definition of what life should be and as we all can imagine, that breeds nothing but discontent in a variety of forms. In order to find ourselves in places we’ve never been, we must travel our own path even when we don’t know exactly where it will lead us.”