I sit in a rowboat, surrounded by fog.

There are distant islands poking through the fog in every direction. Hundreds. I stare for hours but can only make out shores of each island. I can’t tell which I want to live on or row toward.

These islands are life paths before me. At seventeen, the world is my oyster. I can do anything, be anything, and create anything. There’s a problem, though.

I have no idea what I want to do, who I want to be, or what I want to create.

A new idea enters my universe. I’m skeptical about it. All the sudden, it’s my obsession. Every ounce of energy I have is funneled toward it. I believe—no, I know it’s what I want to do with my life. I finally feel direction and I’m liberated from the endless confusion rollercoaster.

Then something else shows up and I’m back where I started.

This is how I went from wanting to be a painter to a Pixar filmmaker to a movie director to designer to photographer to journalist to writer to marketer to life coach to alternative educator to now—when I finally admit: I don’t know what I want to do with my life.

There are so many islands. I can’t possibly declare which I want to spend my life on. I can barely make out each island and can’t decide which direction to go. I’m stuck here. Floating in the middle of the ocean.

So, what is to be done?

Jump.

Headfirst into the unknown.

Accept that fighting the confusion creates more confusion.

The day it all “comes together” will never come. The first step is taking a leap of faith. Waiting for an emotion to guide isn’t worth it because the emotion will never come.

I now search for one thing: adventure. I’m choosing to let the unknown fill me with life. Exploring the possibilities of the life ahead is no different than exploring the depths of the oceans, the peaks of the Himalayas, or the islands of the Pacific.

If I go to one island and I don’t like it, there’s nothing stopping me from hopping to the next. Going into the unknown means killing fear and taking action even if there isn’t a tangible end goal.

For now, I’m cultivating the skills that make me come alive. Speaking, writing, and the visual arts. Where those skills will take me? Only time will tell.

 

There’s a correction to the title. Walking into the unknown? No, I’m running into the unknown.

Are you?