“I don’t know where I’m going, but I know exactly how to get there”

I was struck yesterday, as I searched for morels in a forested area that had burned down last year, how much the search served as a metaphor for my life these days. The search required patience and faith. I had to keep walking, although I wasn’t guaranteed any treasure. I had to believe that the mushrooms were out there. I had moments of weariness and doubt when I wanted to give up, but I persisted. I cheered myself on, sometimes out loud, and made up hopeful little ditties about mushrooms. I had to let go of any attachment to finding them (that was perhaps the hardest part) and enjoy the walk. In fact, the longer I went without finding any, the more I surrendered to enjoying the stark beauty of the burned woods, my wild and crazy dogs happily running around, and the bright stems of green grass and golden flowers shooting up from the ashen floor.

I was reminded that starting a business is very much like a mushroom hunt. One is not guaranteed treasure. It takes unending faith in the unseen, trusting that good things are coming even when it might seem like they aren’t. It takes an incredible amount of patience, especially when one feels like giving up. And, it requires a good dose of surrender, allowing oneself to enjoy the process instead of always worrying about the destination. What makes growing a business harder is that  while I know what a morel looks like, I’m not even sure what I want my business to look like. I have been focused on empty nester mothers, and now I am testing the waters to support teachers. I facilitate innovative problem solving sessions for companies, yet I discovered how much I loved facilitating the opening session of a large CEO conference. I absolutely love life coaching and am also experiencing success as an executive coach. I am writing a lot, both essays and poetry, and am also practicing rapping more.

This brings me to the quote that entitles this piece. “I don’t know where I’m going, but I know exactly how to get there,” by Renias, a South African Lion Tracker. What if, rather than setting clear goals or SMART goals or having a step by step plan for our next thing, we just had faith that every right step today is leading us to the perfect destination? It feels scary to embrace, and yet, at a time when I don’t actually know what “success” for me looks like, focusing on the next right step feels like not only a good thing to do, but the only thing to do right now. I take a right action, see how it goes (do I like it? am I good at it? does the world need it? do people respond well to it?), and then I adjust my course. I am taking things on that are within my training and skill set, but also just beyond my comfort zone and pushing me to new heights.

If you feel like you’re not exactly sure where you’re going, that’s ok. Keep moving. Keep looking. Keep doing the next right thing. Trust your intuition. Have fun along the way. Smell the flowers. See the grass. Trust that you are on the right path. I never did find any mushrooms yesterday, and yet I’m so grateful for the beautiful day I had. It was just the right thing.