Life journeys have always fascinated me. I guess that’s why I’m a fan of biographies, and autobiographies in particular. Apart from the narrative element, which keeps me glued, I find the sometimes haphazard, sometimes purposeful trajectories of people’s lives endlessly absorbing. The way we step through life, taking up this or that object, experience, relationship, in favour of others, is a cumulative process. How we make these decisions, or how we (sometimes fortuitously, sometimes not so) are touched by the hand of fate and consequently end up in places we’d never considered possible, builds a kind of structure that defines our existence. Many analogies come to mind. Bricks in a wall, roof tiles that are interlinked and confine our living space, our place of nurture, rest and family; foundations of the house we live in, paving stones for a particular planned trajectories. These are all to do with man-made structures. But the many choices we make, consciously or unconsciously, can be likened to the pattern of fallen leaves, or to a jigsaw slowly taking shape.

Sometimes I reflect on the place I stand now, and think back to my childhood. We have ideas about what our life could be, mainly shaped by our experience of family, community, or friendships, and these change as we get older. Sadly, many dreams are lost, or abandoned. Childhood ideas are often grander imaginings than can be accommodated in our adult conception of the world. Imagination has no boundaries, and with the innocence (or ignorance) of youth, living as we do in fantasy worlds, it’s easy to dream big. I understand how many childhood dreams are actually unattainable. It’s okay to subscribe to the ego-centrism of pampered Western civilisations, believing you can be anything or do anything, but whether you will be able to fulfil that kind of grandiose projection (or whether you will actually want to) is another thing altogether.

I am by no means saying dreaming big is a bad idea. It’s wonderful. Without dreaming big, incredible, and attainable realities would never have come to be. Ambitions need something to fly on, and grand imagination is needed to get us off the ground. But along with dreaming big, comes a lot of hard work, perseverance, resilience, and even more hard work. Big accomplishments are built, like walls, roofs, roads and 1000 piece puzzles.

This is my inspiration. Knowing that great things may come by doing small things well, and consistently. Putting one foot in front of the other each day. Not getting discouraged, looking ahead, and being open to any random opportunity that you might see in a different direction. Point is, if you are not already on your journey, it’s difficult to envisage other trajectories. But first, put on walking shoes, wear a hat, take an umbrella. You never know what might happen.