To Anyone Who Feels Stuck In Life

Being young is beautiful. The opportunities are endless and you can be anything you want to be. You are standing at the bottom of a mountain and there are so many paths to take. If you’re brave, you can make up your own path. There are only possibilities. You didn’t get to pick the mountain you’re climbing, but you do get to pick how you’re going to climb it and who you’re going to climb it with.

As beautiful as this is, it is a scary place to be. There is a giant mountain ahead of you. And you are supposed to climb it, all by yourself. Some people will teach and guide you, but at the end of the day you have to use your own feet to get you up the mountain, there is nobody else that can do it for you. Your success and failures all fall back onto you.

You can take whichever route you want and expect to see amazing things, but you risk picking one that is dangerous or difficult. You always have the choice to stay at the bottom of the mountain. I mean, sounds kind of boring to me, but it’s an option.

If you haven’t caught on yet, this is a metaphor for life. Being young and having choices and possibilities to explore the world is exciting, but it’s also uncomfortable and scary. There is unknown terrain and the paths that lead to the best views tend to be a lot riskier.

You can work hard throughout high school, and still get rejected from your dream school. You can experience the beauty of falling in love and risk your heart breaking. You can move to a new place and not get the job you wanted. Sometimes it’s hard not to be paralyzed by the fear of failure. Because the truth is, at times, you’re going to fail and people are going to let you down.

There are times when rerouting is our only option. Some paths don’t make it to the top of the mountain, so you can either sit there and stare at the dead end or you can get good at finding new paths.

If you have tried a path that didn’t work and you are sitting there and staring at the terrain trying to find a way to make it work or even looking back and trying to see where you took a wrong turn, this is for you. I understand the reality of being stuck, I’ve been there. It’s hard to pick another path knowing that you might still find yourself at another dead end.

And while you stare at the dead end, stop comparing your hike to everybody else’s hike. Here is what you need to understand, the point in climbing the mountain isn’t to get there first. So chill.

Enjoy your path because although you might feel stuck, your path is the only place you get to find happiness.

You’re not going to find happiness on that really attractive, successful person’s path.

If you choose to enjoy the climb and to remember that it’s about becoming stronger and enjoying the view from wherever you are at right now, no paths are a waste of time. So just keep wandering and take the risky path. I hear the view up there is amazing. And the view will still be great whenever you get there.