What does the map of your life look like?
Photo by Daniel Gonzalez on Unsplash
Imagine you were drawing a map with landmarks on it, and planning to use those landmarks to give yourself directions to get somewhere, or at least familiarize yourself with the area later.
On your map, you have commands and icons like this:
If you see the mailbox on your right hand side, you've gone too far.
Do not turn left here.
The building in front of you will not be three stories tall.
There will be no trees where the forest is.
It won't be flat here.
This is not a library.
There is an unknown area somewhere on this map that is deadly and dangerous, but I don't know where it is.
Now that you've read all that, scan your emotional body. How does it feel?
Confusing?
Anxious?
Disorienting?
Hopeless?
Now imagine you've done this in your life:
I don't want a relationship with someone who is ultra religious.
I don't want to feel sad.
He/she doesn't satisfy me.
If he doesn't clean up after himself one more time, it's over.
This is not what I want.
You're not doing it right.
That is absolutely unacceptable behavior.
You can't know whether you're headed in the right direction (for you) if all you're paying attention to is what things aren't. It's confusing, and energetically exhausting to keep this up. If you're not sure where to go in your life, you may have been accidentally disorienting yourself with thoughts like these, and thoughts like these will knock you out super fast.
If you're tired and over it, and you identify with the above, I totally understand why!
Being a wayfinder of your own life means both getting the lay of the land (self-awareness and clarity about what you want) by orienting yourself around what IS (not what is not), and also knowing how to give yourself good enough directions that you can get totally lost and trust you'll find your way home again.
If you were drawing a map of your life, what would it look like? How would you describe landmarks and give yourself directions?