10/18/25 — The Wrong Turn (Journal Entry Dissection: #Temperance #Well #Maturity)
- Kurt Bell
- Oct 18
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 18
About These Posts
Each day I add a new journal entry to my social media feeds. Here, I take that day’s entry and expand it through the lens of my Good Life Creed, which you can read about in my book Going Alone (available for free on my website). These dissections aim to connect ordinary reflections with the enduring objectives and principles of the Creed.
Journal Entry (10/18/25)
Yesterday was challenging, as we kept taking the wrong route on our way to the antique fair in the next prefecture. Each mistake required some long minutes to correct, and I was surprised at how easily my mind said “oh well” and moved on. This change is a welcome improvement over the deeper frustration I once felt when life didn’t go as planned.
Still, my mind clings to some issues like a terrier with its chew toy. But perhaps with further age—and further effort—I’ll learn to let go of those, too. Not to forget or dismiss what’s difficult or worthy of concern, but to remember that life is, by its nature, demanding—and that some worry and time are simply part of the work of living, and of doing our best while we’re here.
Dissection
This reflection illustrates how emotional restraint grows over time, through both practice and perspective. What once might have stirred frustration now inspires an “oh well” and a forward step. Such composure doesn’t erase difficulty, but transforms it into quiet acceptance—the kind that comes when we stop expecting life to go smoothly and instead meet it as it is.
A calm and measured response to error; irritation yields to patience. The practice of temperance shows itself not in denying emotion, but in mastering it.
#Well (Life Will Not Go Well)
An acknowledgment that setbacks are baked into the fabric of existence. The wrong turns become part of the road, not interruptions from it.
Emotional progress expressed through restraint and self-awareness. Maturity here is the soft wisdom of seeing mistakes as ordinary, even necessary, to the living of a good life.
Takeaway
We don’t always have control over where the road leads, but we can decide how we travel it. The goal isn’t perfection, but steadiness—a calm willingness to continue even when the map leads us astray.
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