That to find ourselves requires we must first lose ourselves is, I believe, life's greatest paradox.

Leaving that carousel of comfort, the predictability of what we know,

the certainty of who we believe ourselves to be,

for a promise with no real guarantee of being kept,

well, it's nothing short of irrational.

Are the odds in our favor? Perhaps not.

But by stepping off, by placing our bets on a different track with a different prize, at a different time,

we have increased those odds from zero to, well, I guess we decide.

And see, the world teaches us that it's advantageous to spin.

A spinning carousel is predictable. It can't be cheated. There's very little room for loss,

or humiliation, or setbacks, or even life to get in the way. You know where you start, and you know where you end, and that's just the thing.

This spinning world is so easy that people don't want to leave.

In fact, it's not until you walk away from the crowd that you even face the unknown.

And that's precisely why it's so hard to walk alone it's hard it's

challenging because of the now not because the now can't be measured or understood

no we get it but because there's this little whisper in the back of our heads

that the now might go on and on and on forever, that that check will never be cashed, the summit never reached.

No, just footsteps down a perpetually long, windy road.

And that's, you know, when maybe, just maybe we miss that carousel.

We miss the safety and security.

And that's what sometimes makes it such a stressful thing to walk alone.

We think about all of ourselves, our mind, our heart we've left behind along the way.

...