The person credited with this saying in Tibet is named Milarepa. He was an ordinary young man who sought revenge on his family's enemies through magic, and then remorseful for his deed, he lived a very pious solitary life as a Buddhist hermit, more or less. For him the long journey was the path of dharma, the bodhisatva path of becoming a Buddha.
I remembered Milarepa's words as my delusions were fading and I realized I was 35 years old, without any friends, living in a strange city, with no employment skills, and no resume to show an employer. I had just been told I had schizophrenia and I thought the long journey began with going back to university to acquire essential career training. I was at univeristy when I first became ill and it was logical to return and finish what I had started. I had a friend back then who used to say "Sometimes you have to go a long way to come back a short distance". It was uncanny how true that was for me at that point.
It took a few years to realize I wasn't going to pick up the pieces and return to university at any level. I couldn't concentrate or think very well, and I couldn't read very much. There was some financial support to return to school, but I couldn't decide what to take and never was able to follow through all the necessary steps. The cost of applying to university was $50, which was a lot of money, and you couldn't get any financial support unless you were accepted by a university.
I was coming back a short distance to where I was when I was 25, ten years ago and now I had a very long journey ahead of me, on foot no less, and I couldn't even take the first step. I was overwhelmed by the challenge of succeeding and very discouraged by my prospects. I couldn't meet or date any women, had no friends who didn't have a mental illness, and couldn't get even the lowest paying work imaginable - not enough experience. I wasn't getting much money in the form of disability benefits. I rode a bicycle. My friends walked to save the cost of taking the bus, even if it meant an hour to get somewhere. We had lots of time and very little money and the bus cost $1.50 each way.
