Words are a funny thing.

When driving with one of my good friends, she would always reply with “forward” when I told her to “go straight.” It really bothered me for a while. Even more to my dismay, I found I started to correct myself in my head when she wasn’t around.

I don’t really know why she was so insistent, but I think “straight” bothered her for the same reason that “forward” bothered me. It didn’t always make sense.

In our society, straight seems to generally have two meanings. The first, and the reason I use it while driving, is as a directional adjective. How is a line different from a curve? It is straight. How do I get to a point directly in front of me? I walk straight.

Straight is also often used to mean correct, or true. Being straight means not to deviate from the norm.

These last two definitions create a problem with this word for many people. This word may be interpreted to mean that those who deviate from the norm are in some way wrong or off course. That there is one path to follow, and in order to be on the correct path, to be straight, one must abide by the norm.

But there are many equally valuable paths.

One day my friend used the phrase “always forward, never straight.” It was at that moment, with that phrasing, that I learned to embrace it. For me, the words were no longer referring to direction. They were referring to life. As we live and grow, we are always moving in some direction. I’d like to live my life in such a way that I’m always moving forward. I might be moving to the right or the left, with big U-turns and in leaps at some points, baby steps at others – but always forward. Always learning, building, challenging myself – falling and then rising again. As long as I’m moving forward, why would I want to go straight?

And I would wish the same for all of you. Life is about changing, taking chances, being who we are, and going with the flow. May you always move forward, never straight!