Shattering the Myth of a Straight Path

If you had told me five years ago that my winding, unconventional life and career would land me on a TEDx stage, I probably would’ve laughed… and politely downplayed the idea.

For most of my childhood, and well into my twenties and thirties, I believed there was only one path. A straight one. You know the one I mean.

The path where you graduate, get a “good” job, climb the ladder, meet the one, buy the house, have the 2.5 kids and maybe a black lab named Chloe. And, of course, live happily ever after.

I chased that straight path like my worth depended on it. And somewhere along the way, I lost myself.

My voice.
My authenticity.

But no matter how hard I tried to stay “on track,” life kept tugging me elsewhere. I started to wonder, what if the life we’re meant to live… isn’t on a straight path at all?

Here’s what I’ve learned: the straight path, it’s a myth.

It might look tidy on a vision board or a LinkedIn profile, but real life, real growth; doesn’t happen in straight lines.

The truth?

The magic lives in the messy middle.
In the detours.
In what I’ve come to call… the squiggle.