The moment you were born, you were invited onto a journey. This journey is your life, and there is only one like it in the world. Nobody else will ever take the same journey, nobody else will see the same scenery, nobody else will face the same struggles and nobody else will carry the collection of stories that you are gathering on your journey.

The journey is yours and yours alone. You will have lots of teachers and guides along the journey, and lots of companions, but you are the only one who can choose the path you must travel.

Sometimes the journey seems smooth and easy and the path is clear. Like walking a clearly marked path through a beautiful garden, you simply put one foot in front of another and enjoy the scenery along the way.

Other times, the journey is excruciating. The ground is rocky and uneven, the storms come and wash away the trail markers and leave giant puddles for you to navigate, and your travel companions desert you. You’re in the middle of a jungle of broken dreams, failed relationships, disappointment, betrayal and confusion, and you’re scratched, bruised, disheartened and exhausted.

The good news is that just because the path seems to have disappeared doesn’t mean it’s gone. The other good news (though it may not seem like good news when you’re in the middle of it) is that getting lost is a valuable part of the journey. When we get lost, we discover new things about ourselves and our surroundings that we didn’t see when the path was easy. We develop resilience and resourcefulness and we learn to reach out to those people who will help us. The places where we are lost are the places where we do our deepest learning.