Nothing Twice By Wislawa Szymborska

Even though we may wish to escape from the flow of time, it is impossible. Therefore, the only thing that makes sense is to make the best decisions we can based upon past experiences, without undue worry about the future. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and Nothing Twice by Wislawa Szymborska reflect the nature of time and decisions. As we learn that the passage of time is unstoppable and unpredictable, we can only try to make the best decisions possible without undue worry about the consequences.

Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken made me realize how people spend too much time worrying about their unpredictable future. Frost begins with, ”Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and be one traveller, long I stood [...] looked down one as far
The poem begins with, ‘Nothing can ever happen twice.’ At first, this seemed frightening, and it accentuated my need to be aware of life decisions. However, this is contradicted when the author exposes, ‘we arrive here improvised, and leave without the chance to practice,’ This reveals the perpetual, one-way flow of time, showing life cannot be practiced or repeated. Reflecting on this, I learned that I shouldn’t fear, or judge myself for making mistakes, because everyone is learning and developing as their life progresses. However, this also means that I need to learn from mistakes to make better decisions in future similar incidents, so I can eventually develop into someone I desire to be. The author reinforces her ideas, ‘why do we treat the fleeting day with so much needless fear and sorrow?’ This depicts that ‘fear and sorrow’ behind every large decision, is unnecessary because the future is impossible to grasp or predict. The author strengthens the idea, ‘with smiles and kisses, we prefer to seek accord beneath our star.’ This personally affected me by emphasizing the need to relax, not worry, be happy, but try my best, learn from my mistakes, and allow fate to steer my life. I realized sometimes, I’m too hard on my flaws, and worry about my faulty decision making. However, this poem reassured me of the future and showed me that it’s acceptable to let go and forgive myself for mistakes and to stop judging my imperfections too harshly. Instead, I should learn from my mistakes and try not to resist the flow of