We are constantly being fed the idea that life is taking us all on this exotic journey and that we all have some special path we are meant to follow, yet I often find myself questioning the reality of this statement.

To me, life is like a map. There is this big picture with all these different routes to take and paths to follow. Each route holds its own adventure, its own experiences.  

Yet, I feel stuck in a world of GPS, a world where all we have to do is plug a destination in and choose the fastest route to get there. This fast route is the one we are expected to follow; this fast route is the path in life that is easiest.

Therefore, I find myself in a quandary. Was this path that was paved for me the fast route? Is this “special route” for my life simply the one a GPS can provide, or is my life more? Is my life the one pulled from a map with a destination I know I need to achieve, yet with so many ways to get there?

I can’t imagine living in this world—full of billions of routes to embark on—and not exploring the multitude of possible paths. This is “path” meant for me. But, maybe my life doesn’t have this certain path I am obligated to follow. Maybe this exotic journey we are told is planned for us is really just a personal destination we will one day reach. Maybe, the destination is set for us, but we get to build up every little detail to get there.

This is what pulls me from this quandary I’m in. I don’t want to take the fast route; I want the enigmatic route. I want to fill my life with every possible detail I can. I want to make the dumb mistakes and take time to appreciate the little things. I want to take the longest route with the most adventure. I want to pave the path to my destination; I don’t want it to already be there for me.

I realize now that I don’t need to bury myself in fear of a plan for my life that may not even exist. I get to choose if I want to simply plug in my destination to the GPS or see where the endless routes of a real map take me.

Honestly, I don’t even need to plan out where I am going at all. I have so much of my life ahead of me and so many choices to make, but I want all these decisions to be decided at the moment they’re needed. I’m not going to spend my life worrying about following the right path or making the right decision.

Each day, each moment of my life is a new part of the path in life that I am choosing to follow. The question that I have been asking myself for years is a question no one can answer because no one knows where I am going, not even me. But that’s why this journey of life is a magnificent thing; you never know what’s next.

I can’t spend my days wondering where I am going or where I will end up. I have to just live my life the way I want to and take the path with the adventure I want to become enraptured in. I need to take the chances I have always wanted to take because, in the end, no decision or turn on this path of life will be wrong. I am the creator of my own map.