When Your Life Plan Doesn’t Work Out, Explore The Wanderlust

Nothing beautiful has ever come from within a comfort zone. And yet, all society wants for us is to stay inside of our respective boxes.

We’re taught to always work inside of the lines, to never speak up when you see injustices within your box, and to never disrupt the system, no matter how flawed it may be.

But no original thought could possibly be produced in a box that was built with the sole purpose of being just another box.

As we enter the real world, we delicately design our own boxes, intricately threading the larger details with the smaller ones: we will become doctors, and lawyers, and business executives, and we’ll all live in boxes, and we’ll all look just the same.

Sometimes, your box doesn’t fold exactly the way you intended it to in the first place. Sometimes, the box you thought you belonged to kicks you out and closes the door. But sometimes, you were never meant to fit in a box anyway.

I’ve never wanted to live in a box. You see, I was taught that exploration is beautiful: that the world is vast and filled with diversity, and you must look around. You must see it: the box you rest so comfortably inside of does not afford you this perspective, and without it, your box is just another box.

I learned that beauty comes from the unknown; from the fear in life. I was taught that adrenaline is good, and when your heart is pumping fast and your breaths are getting shorter and shorter, that you might just be onto something brilliant.

No, I’ve never wanted to live in a box. If anything, I’ve always wanted to exist like a piece of origami: my path in life may bend and twist into corners a box could never imagine. That’s okay. I may not yet know what the end result is to this intricate design, but I’m figuring it out as I go along. And in the end, no matter how inexperienced or unbalanced you may be in the art of life, a piece of origami will always be more beautiful than just any other box.

That’s why, when life shuts the door you spent so long trying to open, whether it is a relationship, a job, or any goal you set your heart on, it’s time to explore the wanderlust. When you think you’ve lost it all, embark on the greatest journey of your life. You will soon find that living in a state of worry is the worst thing you could do for your health and happiness, and that this is just one of the first chapters to your story.

Live in it. Live vicariously through yourself in this moment. Don’t fear the unknown, embrace it. Launch yourself into the world and leave the box that confined your creativity, love and excitement behind once and for all. You’ve been set free, whether you anticipated it or not, and now your destiny is entirely up to you. What initially appears to be a frightening and lonely future is actually a golden one. Your mind is still clouded by insecurities that kept you attached to your box in the first place. You fear leaving the box you were put in like a bird’s first time leaving the nest: you’ve come to only know your box as the safety net for you. It’s time to let it go, and find out what else is out there. The nest was becoming too small for you anyway.

Embrace the journey, and find the glimpses of light which life hands to you during the darkest hours: those will get you through the toughest moments.

But always remember above all: explore the wanderlust.