Life is Not a Straight Line

When you start school everything is mapped out for you and progress happens in a linear fashion. You know, for example, that at 15, you will do GCSE’s. At 18, you will go on to take A Levels. At university, after 3 years (or however long your course is) you will get a degree. At each step you collect your symbol of achievement (your grades etc) and automatically progress to a higher level. The education system is a great security blanket which provides a very clear path and sense of direction.

Then you graduate and you enter the real world. You look around and see that the real world is not remotely linear. The real world goes against pretty much everything that you’re taught in education. You may realize that it’s not necessarily the brainiest or most educated people who get to the top; that a great education does not guarantee immediate riches; and that there is no straight forward path for success. There are no tests to take which will guarantee your entry to the next level of life. This reality can be very frightening, particularly because most twentysomethings are unprepared for it.

But life itself does not happen in a straight line, nor is it mapped out for you. There are ups and downs, highs and lows, twists and turns. It’s up to each and everyone of us to clear our own path through the forest and make our way through. It requires us to take responsibility for ourselves in every way, something that we have not necessarilly been taught how to do and something that we often resist doing because it makes us truly accountable for how our lives turn out.

The fact that life isn’t a straight line is also hugely exciting. It means that you can make it go in whichever direction you choose. It also means accepting that your destiny lies in your hands and you are shaping it each and every day. Rather than being subject to someone else’s terms and conditions, you can create your own. It is, in fact, the ultimate freedom; one to be embraced with both hands.

In school, we are taught that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. Many of us are afraid of making mistakes, of not getting it ‘right’. This paralyses us and we become afraid of moving forward in any direction. But that is an illusion. Everything we do that helps us to learn and grow is what’s right for us. Those things are what will take us to the next level and ensure our success as people. It will take us in a zig-zag, round about manner, but that’s ok because that’s life. And life is not a straight line!