We are the only experts on our own lives. And we are the only ones who know us as uniquely and as intimately as “us.” But while there is no shortage of people that will tell us what’s best, no one has the qualifications necessary to tell us what we’re most suited for in this life.
Each of our journeys through this life is unique. That’s why they are called personal journeys. And because of that, we are in the captain’s chairs of our own vehicles. We may choose to have others along for this trip. But just as they will experience an immensely different perspective under the exact same circumstances, we, too, will come away with a completely different experience.
If we sit and think about it, we’ve always had a very unique sense of what it is like to be ourselves. We felt a certain way as children. We loved someone along the way. We had interests and objectives that we pursued. And in each of these instances, no one could have done them the way we did.
And it is from this very same source that we draw our inherent knowledge of how to navigate the waters of our own lives with our own sense of guidance. And besides the comforts of shelter and clothing, the necessity of food and protection from the elements, the keys to survival were evolutionarily implanted within each of us as they were with the countless individuals that came before us.
On the road, this is an observation that is clear and abundant. People farm the land and cultivate the food that we share. They live in the rat race or they create the art that we enjoy in the world’s museums and galleries. They build structures and make various forms of textiles and clothing. And in each place it seems to happen a little differently than the next.
And if this is nothing else, it’s a perfect metaphor for the individual inclination to chart our own course and to make the notion of surviving look a lot more like thriving.
We should take the opportunity that everyday offers and look at the person that we are. We should assess our strengths and weaknesses in terms of how they relate to our interests. This will give us an accurate mold of what our true path should look like. This can only be done by ourselves and it is imperative that brutal honesty be employed in analyzing the various facets that will go into this assessment.
But once we’ve made the effort of taking stock of our lives, we’ll be unendingly rewarded by a tangible draft of how our lives might be best served and by the best advice available to us – our own.
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Like the photo from this journal? Click HERE to see the album from Laos that I shot when I made my way through in 2010.