January 22

If you have ever been on a road trip, you have likely discovered that there are many little paths you can take within the larger journey. There are scenic routes and major highways, detours, and winding roads. Even within a span of a few hours, you can venture through many landscapes at varying speeds, encountering everything from standstill traffic to open roads. In life, the moments and experiences that feel more like those detours or standstill-traffic moments are more magnified than ever, and the scenic routes, where you’re roaming free without care, feel far between.

If you feel frustrated by this, you’re allowed to feel that way. It doesn’t instantly mean you’re ungrateful for longing to keep traveling at a steady pace. You simply expected this journey to have one pace, and then it ended up being something completely different from what you had anticipated. It’s normal to feel irritated or nervous about making it to where you were hoping to go. It’s okay to feel what you need to feel in this space.

It is also okay to recognize that it is not too late to imagine new paths ahead. As the traffic slowly inches forward and you slowly find your way through the detours, you’re allowed to stay open to the possibility of new routes. Even if life’s detours send you in a thousand different directions you didn’t expect, and traffic jams and road construction keep you waiting in a way that tests your patience, you are still allowed to breathe deep and be ready to move when it’s time to move. To imagine and contemplate the possibility of openings and redirections and be ready to embrace them as they arise.

Here’s to giving yourself permission to explore beyond what you thought was possible, imagining new paths ahead.