I’m sure you’ve heard the saying ‘leap and the net will appear’ but this is my latest spin on it: walk and the path will make itself clear.
I was thinking about this as I’ve had so many new opportunities opening up to me with this blog recently, opportunities which I’ve wanted but wasn’t sure how to take fully.
There’s a lot to learn when you’re becoming a reviewer and interviewer (which is my current trajectory). Rules you’ve never heard of and practises that you want to follow to be safe. These are all things I couldn’t have imagined when first conceiving of my blog a few years ago, and they aren’t things I could have prepared for any better.
No, I had to walk the path and let them come to me. Only then could I do the work or take the steps necessary to succeed on this new path.
If you’re anything like me, you probably like to create a perfect plan, in the hopes that you can eliminate all stress, all anxiety, all mistakes. Unfortunately that is an impossible, almost Sisyphean task. You will never be able to remove all discomfort from your life, no matter how well you plan, but I would also argue that you don’t want to.
Making mistakes is the best way to learn—because it’s the most painful. The shame, humiliation, frustration, sadness and anger that we feel when we make a mistake, no matter how big or small, is important. Those emotions create memories for us, as we learn what not to do in future.
Then there’s the work you have to do to fix your error. Only by creating and ultimately resolving problems are you able to fully understand them. I saw it all the time while working as a trainer in my various jobs over the years. Sometimes it was better to let people make mistakes, especially during the supervised training, because they could learn what to do and what could go wrong altogether. I could tell people a million times not to do something, but it was never as effective as letting them do the wrong thing (within safety and financial reason, please don’t be silly), and learning their own lesson.
This principle is exactly why it is so important to walk and let the path reveal itself! Just as the net will appear for us, the path becomes clear as we walk and see what actually needs doing.
Its like when I went solo travelling overseas for the first time. I’d been on vacation around Australia before, but never by myself, and never to a foreign country. I packed almost everything I thought I’d need in my bags—just in case. However, living over there for almost three weeks taught me so much more than any advice page or packing list ever could. I had to buy other things that I realised I needed, and I had to carry around plenty of things I didn’t need too.
You can’t always know what is coming when you take a leap, but you can be sure that the path will reveal itself on the way. In walking the path, you are creating it. It doesn’t exist until you place your foot on the ground. Think of all the little paths you might see through a field or forest. They had to start with someone or something walking where there wasn’t a path previously.
You’ll encounter new challenges, but that’s to be anticipated. Don’t let these challenges deter you! Through facing and overcoming them, you will grow far more than you think. As we just discussed, these challenges are teaching and guiding you along the path. You’re learning your lessons and forging your path as you go through them!
Lastly, the challenges that arise when you walk the path are proof that you’re on the right track too. Of course bloggers are going to face the challenges I have eventually—that’s part of having a successful/growing blog!
Don’t mistake friction for a roadblock or for denial. Athlete’s bodies hurt when they compete in their sport, that doesn’t mean they should stop! It simply means they are doing the very thing they want to do, and that thing has a cost required. Writers and artists will face creativity slumps, chefs will burn or drop or mis-plate their dishes, singers will hit the wrong note, sportspeople will miss the ball, parents will forget things for their children or make mistakes. They don’t make these errors because they are intentionally trying to, but because that is what happens when you choose to take on these monumental endeavours.
To continue the sporting analogies, you can’t nail every shot perfectly, but you can learn from the last one and try again on the next. The only way you are guaranteed to lose is if you don’t play.
So walk and let the path reveal itself to you. The journey will guide you as much as you guide it. Even though you may not be able to see too far ahead of you, trust that you are heading towards your goal. If you worry that you aren’t headed in the right direction, let me assure you that you are! If you want something and you keep that target in mind, it doesn’t matter how long or winding the journey is, everything is leading you there. There’s no proof otherwise.
Food for thought? I’d love to hear what you think too, and if you have had any experiences where the path really did make itself clear along the way.
Until next time, x
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