Our lives unfold a day at a time. A week goes by and then another. Months pass, years pass and suddenly we find that we have lived for decades. I remember being thrilled to say that I had lived for a decade when I was ten. How incredible that I could look back over a decade of my own life and see the journey I had taken! That wonder stayed with me as another decade passed and then as I reached 25, my first quarter century. I still look back in wonder, fascinated by where I have been, by everything I have experienced, all the people I have encountered, all the things I have been drawn to, all that has crossed my path, everything a part of my journey.

I have always considered life to be a solo journey, and I still believe that, that we must take our own journey through life and learn what we as individuals must learn. But I also know that we are never alone, that everything in life is accompanying us on our journey.

When I looked back at the age of ten I felt ancient, as if I had indeed come far, on a long journey that no one else had ever taken, and for the most part that was true, for all of our journeys are unique, as unique as we each are. At the same time, I could not imagine being alone in the world. I still needed my parents, my family and the social world I lived in to nurture me and prepare me for the rest of my life.

Even in less that ideal situations we receive something from our families of origin, whether it be determination or strength of character, tenacity to survive or the will to move on. Although I thought many times about running away as a child, and once did attempt it at fifteen, I realize now that in staying in place and bearing the tension of my life as it was I was preparing myself for something greater, a future I could not even imagine at the time.

In order to understand our journey we must first know who we are, what lies inside us, in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self. Only in traversing that journey, the inner journey into the vast unknown self, will we be ready to understand the deeper meaning of our lives. We can take this deeper journey guided by trained professionals, by spiritual and intuitive helpers, but the real work lies in going always deeper within, in facing what only we know lies in our depths. No one else can take our deeper journey for us, just as we cannot ride on the coattails of the journey of another. If we are to live fulfilling lives as both physical and spiritual beings, we must dare ourselves to take the solo journey, even as we let it take us.

As we look back over our lives, over the years and decades we have traveled thus far, it is important to note that everything was meaningful. Even a seemingly insignificant encounter holds some note of import. People journey with us, for instance, some encounters more fleeting than others, but all of them are significant. Perhaps the time comes for parting, the journey together done. Sometimes it is up to us to decide to move on, at other times others leave us.

Everyone who is, or has ever been, part of our journey has something to teach us. People mirror things to us; they point out our core issues, our fears, our vulnerabilities. They tell us the truth, though it is often hard to hear and even harder to accept. When we are finally ready, we somehow discover the truth on our own. What has been pointed out to us our entire lives—by others, by the choices we have made, by the things we have kept at bay—finally makes sense. All of this is part of the journey, the solo journey that we must all take through life.

The real truth is that whether we are consciously taking the solo journey or not, we are taking it anyway. If we are alive, we are on that journey. Over time, as our egos have nothing to gain and our spirits nothing to lose, we comfortably take off.

Taking the journey,
Jan