Carrying one's cross and following Jesus

For a couple of years now I have been consciously struggling with a very arduous cross that Jesus has awarded me and yes, I fail fairly often in carrying it by rejecting His grace. After the most recent incident, I reflected on the consequences of flinging the cross down and deciding not to carry it any more. The first effect I noted was that by no longer carrying one's cross, one stands upright. By carrying it, one is effectively doubled over and often falling to one's knees. Metaphorically, the meaning of this is pretty clear. When we throw down our cross, rejecting God's will for us out of stubbornness, our pride increases. We decide we will no longer put up with being subjugated - we can gain for ourselves our own freedom. The second effect is that we no longer have to follow the path of carrying the cross, the via crucis, but rather we can go in any other direction rather than this stony and difficult road of the cross.
Now, to the outsider, this casting off of the yoke of being a Christian and no longer following the path laid out for us by Jesus as He carried His may seem like a relief - the discovery of freedom instead of the slavery of the cross. However, to the Christian, this is a passing into grave peril. By standing upright, we are no longer careful of where we walk as we are no longer looking at the ground. We may step on all sorts of painful and horrible things. Secondly, we no longer have any destination. Our direction in life is a direction away from something, not towards something. Also, we hear the words of our Saviour when we consider this wide path away from the via crucis; "the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life" (Mt 7:13b-14). 
After having considered the effects of rejecting one' cross, I then reflected on what it means by accepting one's cross. By carrying it, as stated before, one is bowed down and low. Again, this is metaphorically clear - when we accept the yoke that Jesus gives us, we become more humble. Bearing and accepting to carry one's cross is a humbling experience. After accepting it, we struggle along the rocky path which has only one destination - the garden of the tree of life - Calvary. Like the Lord, we are helped by friends and family along the way, and most importantly, by the Lord, who Himself has gone before us. And His mother, our mother, Mary, is there to comfort us and pray for us along the way as we make our permanent pilgrimage to stand with her at the foot of the cross, giving thanks to our Saviour.