I have a new (or another) understanding of the phrase "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". This is more philosophical in nature than religious, I’ve always understood it to be that there’s lots of people that intend to do lots of good things every day, and that’s it. No good deeds were actually done so hence the phrase which can be attributed to a Saint back in the 1100’s.
A good intention is a good thing that stays in my head which doesn’t really help anyone or anything else. It doesn’t even really help me, it actually hurts me a lot. And this is where my new perception comes from. I create my own hell with all my good intentions and by not acting on them I create a sense of inadequacy which leads to insecurities and self-doubt. And that’s my new understanding of that phrase.
Sometimes when we try to turn a good intention into a good action, it’s hard to do it alone, and 692 days ago I asked for help with a good intention. Living with my smoking addiction was pure hell, and what was worse was my inability to turn my desire to be a nonsmoker into a reality. It was the good actions of friends & givers on this site that helped me make it through the tough spots so many months ago. As my need for support slowly diminished and my confidence grew, I drifted away from the site, always intending to start blogging again, but as with all good intentions nary was a blog wrote, until today. Hello everyone. Hi Shawn, I figured I’d surprise you with a blog! How’s that Freedom Train running?
I find the reward for my good action (quitting smoking) is so much better than the misery of my good intention (thinking about quitting) With that said, my good action wouldn’t have happened without my good intention. So this site is where I was able to (finally) go from intention to action and I believe you can do it too.
