On our true way

“I don’t know where you’re going, but you’re definitely getting there,” said the art instructor while looking at his student’s recent work. Contrary to much goal-setting jargon out there these days, I laughed at the comment and thought about it ever since.

I spent most of my life headed toward a specific goal. As effortless as I tried to make it look, I was always thinking how I could get from “here” to “there.” Whether to get into a particular school, land a certain job, or befriend a popular person, I was always looking out in front of me and figuring out a way to reach a certain destination. I have come to believe there is no “there” to which I need head. What matters more is the direction in which I am headed.

Like the art teacher tried to say, we may not know where we are going to end up, but it’s wonderful to be headed in the right direction. In AA, they speak of “stumbling in the right direction,’ to express the same truth, and it is one I plan to cling to for this second half of my journey.

Regardless of what we do for a living, whom we know, or where we live, each of us has a false self and a true self. In the context of such outwardly daily pursuits, it seems to me what matters most is toward which self we are headed? In the end, it will not matter where we ended up, just who we become along the way.