There Is No Right Path

Years and years ago, I was very upset with where I was. I thought I chose the wrong college, met the wrong people, that I was not going down the path I was supposed to. But I was stuck on this path, so I had to press on.

Over time, I noticed that I had grown up a lot. I'd become more personable, more social, had great conversations with cool people, and became vastly better at writing. And with that understanding, I started to think I had been on the right path all along.

But there came a day when I looked back at my college experience and I realized that, no matter where I had gone or what I had chosen to pursue, I would have grown up, met cool people, and become amazing at the study I chose.

In reality, there was no "right path". There was only the path I chose and all the paths I might have chosen.

This sometimes paralyzes me when I'm writing. Just like me, my characters could do absolutely anything. How do I choose what they actually do? Is it what they "should" do? What would that even be? I really don't know and I can't write another word (which is totally one way to understand writer's block).

Much like my own experiences, I have to trust that there is no "right" path, not even with my characters, not even in the story I am making up on purpose. Sometimes I simply have to throw them down a path and see what happens. Paths that make me cringe I do over. Paths that make me proud I keep. The one nice thing about prose as opposed to the real world is that I get as many do-overs as I need.