Some years you felt strong enough to head down that concrete walkway, knowing that it led to one of your bad places, and some years you didn’t. Avoid a building or stare it in the face, depending on your reserves that morning.
This passage seems especially beautiful to me because it describes a situation most people know: being confronted with a place you associate with bad memories. The passage is not overly dramtic, in fact it is really soberly written but still so relatable and somewhat metaphoric. You could use it as metaphor for anything one coul want to avoid like people, situations and so on.