What's in a map?
Every year I make a map for my year as part of Mapping Your Path (the new cohort kicks of Oct 6th!). It got me thinking about the role maps play and how we use them, along with different lessons I’ve learned from this practice over the years, and from the joy of making mine in community.
Just like maps help us explore a new city, having a map can help support us as we live our lives. Maps support our explorations and give us direction rather than aimlessly stumbling along, hoping something will happen without a guide. A map can be your guide when life goes off course. Use your map as a compass to keep coming back to yourself.
Maps give us the freedom and confidence to get lost, find our way back, and reroute where needed.
If you're following someone else's map for your life, no wonder you may feel stuck or lost; you're not going to get where you want. But don’t underestimate the power of getting lost too! Sometimes getting lost is how we make the best discoveries.
Maps can help us get clear on what YOU want (what you really desire) and how you want to feel. What excites you? What sites do you want to see? You can’t do it all, so what do you want to skip? Don't worry about the time to the destination or having everything figured out. You don't have to know everything—that will come with exploration.
When you have your map, you are an active explorer, not someone sitting on the sidelines. Clarity comes through taking action, not overthinking. Your map will allow you to see new pathways you hadn't considered. Leave room for surprises of the best variety. Think beyond either/or thinking, and perhaps you’ll discover another way along the way—the magical third door.✨
As the map maker you can pick where you start. This likely means starting before you're ready. You know you can’t do it all at once, but you know where you want to explore (and where you will no longer return). Each step of the way, you’ll make new discoveries and connections that will help inform the next steps.
One small step at a time, your map will reveal where to go next. When you take steps, you are showing the universe you’re serious about this life you desire.
Use your map as a tool to help you make decisions, or detours, as you gain perspective of the new lands you’re uncovering. You can get anywhere when you do.
The best part is that you’ll know your map came from YOU, not from some outside source telling you what to do, or what you “should” do. There’s no one-sized-fits-all map that works for everyone. Part of the journey is making it your own and revising the world you inhabit as you discover more of what lights you up. We’re mapping from the inside out, regardless of the messaging the outside world may tell us.
A map allows you to feel grounded, centered, and alive. You’ll feel it in your body when you know you’re on your path—you know, the deep knowing kind of way. (It may even feel so easy—like you’re cheating—but getting to that clarity is half the journey. The feeling of THIS IS FUN!) Even when we take a wrong turn, that’s still information to get us back on track. We find our way back more quickly with a map.
You know what supports you best. Mapping our path is also about getting back to what we know works, and making sure that we make it a priority. (No one warned us that the simple things aren’t always easy.)
I’m not sure I fully grasped growing up what a wild ride life would be, but each year my map helps me feel rooted. My map serves as an anchor. I’ve come to see throughout the year it’s not uncommon to feel off course and my brain spirals with it. The point of having a map is not to keep it in the drawer to collect dust, but to revisit it regularly. Even when we know where we’re going, it never hurts to have a refresher.
Our maps can help free us from the spiral. It doesn’t have to be so complicated or feel as overwhelming as it often does. They’re brilliant tools when we use them.
Each of my maps is inspired by my “guiding force” (word or phrase for the year). I integrate my word or phrase into my maps as a reminder to come back to me when life will inevitably life goes off course.
2020 my guiding force was EXPLORE. At the time a biz friend told me I already explore so it was “cheating,” but I knew deep down there was something in this word I needed in my year ahead. As you surely haven’t forgotten, a few months into the year the pandemic struck. I think this word/map was exactly what I needed when the unexpected struck. Despite being confined to my tiny Paris apartment, the spirit of exploration (something I already did, but wanted to go deeper) served me well.
It truly was the year where my business pivoted to the work I’m doing now and I love: facilitating workshops and building community. I got further by exploration rather than having a definitive plan. Keep in mind I had no idea just how powerful EXPLORE would be when starting out my year.
2021 my guiding force was AUDACITY. I loved that “city” was in the name and the goal was to dare + believe + discover. I wanted to practice getting out of my comfort zone and being daring and brave, and to have a bit more courage in how I show up in the world.
It was the first year I ran three cycles of Mapping Your Path. I needed the permission slip I gave me on my map: Permission to do things your way. There are lots of little reminders throughout the map—a rather busy city—that years later are still good to remind myself of, particularly around pausing and doing nothing.
Sometimes the map we need is the one that reminds us all of the things we know deep down, but must remind ourselves of. That Island of Incremental change was an excellent reminder that real change really can happen from small steps over time.
2022 my guiding force was THE MAGIC WITHIN YOU. This was the most unexpected guiding force I’ve had, and one that came to me. During the 3-months of MYP it’s like we get to try on words, and there’s some magical collective effervescence that happens to spark new ideas. While similar to my first ideas, I landed on this which pushed all the ideas further. And this year truly taught me that everything we need is already WITHIN you.
There were multiple unexpected curveballs in life that threw me off—that “mountain of growth” on my map wasn’t always easy, but it was necessary, particularly as I entered the garden of pattern disruption. This truly is how I’ve gotten to the next level (which also includes internal contentment). On the flip side of this map I can remind myself that I can do hard things (in the words of Glennon Doyle). Off in the distance I still can see “The Alchemist” and the stars remind me how everything is connected. 2022 was the year I started to see magic, and even came home with a magic carpet!
2023 has been the year of IGNITE! with a side of dance with the universe. I’ve had more magic happen this year than ever before, which helps me see how my maps are all connected and support future us. They’re almost like system upgrades when maps become a practice. I like to remind myself of the observatory of infinite possibilities and the 3rd door of the unexplainable when I get stuck in black and white thinking—there are possibilities out there I can’t see yet (and remind myself the year is not over yet!). While I really life to take off—it just seems like it’d be easier—I remind myself I’m still engaging my engines on my launch pad and gaining important knowledge and taking key steps before that can truly happen. The small seeds of growth next to the tree actually feel the biggest shifts, and I can see and feel the growth when I zoom out.
Our maps can be personal. We can draw them with one idea in mind, but as life unfolds we can discover different aspects, messages, or reminders are hidden within them. On a hard day our maps can be the perfect medicine to return to. (It’s also why we create our own guidebooks in MYP too.)
Here’s a sampling of maps that have emerged in past MYPs:
Want to make your own maps? Join me and a community of incredible and inspiring humans around the globe as we map our years ahead in Mapping Your Path into 2024. Throughout our three months together I’ll walk you through a series of exercises to get you reflecting and thinking about what you want out of the year ahead. You never know what you’ll unlock through the power of this out of the world community.
No artistic experience is required. No two maps are the same. A bit of curiosity will take you far! You’ll be guided every step of the way. Even if you think you know what you want the year ahead to look like, use these three months together to dig deeper and explore. It’s all about staying open to possibilities and tuning into our intuition. Imagine what could be possible if you were in the driver’s seat…
Learn more about Mapping Your Path into 2024. It all kicks off Friday, Oct 6th. 🚀