“What screws us up most in life is the picture in our head of how it’s supposed to be.”

Of all the things I’ve learned in life, this is one of the things that rings most true. I have been reminded of this over and over again in the last years and especially the past month, and once again in conversation yesterday with someone I love and respect.

Trying to define what life should look like only limits you. It isn’t about the outcomes, they are a side effect of the experiences and adventures you have along the way.
Life has so much to offer. Letting go of what life ‘should’ look like, embracing the situations that both scare and excite you is rewarding in every way.

I’m not saying it never requires any planning/preparation, that everything will work out perfectly, or that it will be easy, but I guarantee you choosing to let go of the expectations and predispositions of what you (or others) think it should look like will lead to a life that is better than whatever definition or outcome you could have given it.

I reflected on this sitting in my favourite “office” to date (this was originally written March 3 2017), drinking a milkshake while working in Costa Rica.

Prior to this moment, offices were buildings I would frequent more or less daily, with the occasional day working from home. And I had, what I thought was, a pretty clear path in mind of how life should look and what my career path was. However it never felt complete. There was always something missing. I was trying to live according to what society or others had told me life ‘should’ look like.

They were right. For their own paths.
But I was wrong in taking it on for how my life should look. It was definitely screwing me up in life.

I’m reposting this to my new site, and it’s almost 6 years later (November 11, 2022). I could not be more grateful for having let go of the original picture I had in my head for my life. I could not have imagined a more beautiful, challenging, and rewarding path then the one I have followed these past 6 years, and this is only the beginning.