Sometimes You’re the Compass

We all crave clarity. We want to know what’s next, what to do, how to act. But life doesn’t hand us a manual. It doesn’t unfold like a clean step-by-step guide. Some days feel wildly unpredictable—chaotic, unfair, random. Other days are strangely routine—like clockwork, easy to read, eerily familiar. Life is full of contradictions. And navigating those contradictions is the real challenge.

We often hear, “Just trust the process.” But what process? And whose process? Sometimes even the best-laid plans fall apart. And when they do, it’s tempting to give up on planning altogether—just react, just survive, just get through it.

But that’s not quite it either.

We don’t need a GPS. A GPS assumes there’s one right path, one fixed destination, and one guaranteed route to get there. Life doesn’t work like that. If it did, we’d all be calmly cruising to success, fulfillment, and peace. No detours. No wrong turns. But also—no growth.

Instead, what we really need is something older than GPS. We need a compass.

A compass doesn’t tell you exactly where to go. It won’t lay out your day or promise you success. But it does something even more powerful—it gives you direction. And direction comes from within. From your values. From your purpose. From what matters most when everything else falls apart.

This kind of navigation requires awareness. A kind of inner orientation that gets sharper the more you pay attention to it. You don’t drift with the current. You steer—even if you don’t always know exactly where you’ll end up.

You still plan. You still move with intention. But you let go of the illusion that the map will ever be perfect. Instead, you trust yourself to keep adjusting your heading as you go.

There is faith in this, yes. But also strategy. Also effort. Also decision after decision, made in the dark, with only your inner compass for guidance.

And if you follow it long enough? You’ll find moments—sometimes fleeting, sometimes loud and clear—when everything clicks. When something inside you says: “This is the way.”

That’s when you know you’re not lost. You're just traveling without a GPS.