Stop Judging Your Turns – Reframe and Reroute

🎧 👉 Prefer audio? You can also listen to me share about this in podcast episode #107 here.

Imagine you’re driving, using your favorite navigation app. You’ve entered your destination, and you’re on your way. But then, you miss a turn. The app recalculates and provides you with a new route. It doesn’t yell at you. It doesn’t tell you you’ve failed. It simply reroutes. What if we apply this non-judgmental approach of our car navigation apps to our lives?

We all have unexpected turns and missed opportunities. I think it's fair to say that we all go through times when we judge ourselves, get frustrated, or feel like we've lost our way. You may have a pretty positive attitude overall, but if you’re honest, how much does your inner critic actually chime in? 

But what if we adopted the mindset of the navigation app? There are no wrong turns in life, just reroutes. Every decision, and every outcome, whether planned or not, is part of your own adventure.

Think about a time when something didn't go as planned. Maybe a business opportunity fell through, or a relationship ended. In the moment, these might have felt like major detours or roadblocks. However, with time, new paths eventually showed up. Maybe a better business deal came along, or you found growth being alone for a while, or a new relationship showed up. Somewhere along the way, you realized that the important part is all the stops along the way of life so that it’s interesting, fun, and fulfilling.

I’m inviting you to challenge yourself to welcome the reroutes without judgment. Instead of scolding ourselves for the turns we supposedly miss, let’s focus on the forward motion. And by the way, forward is about perspective—you can turn right and still be moving forward, you can go left and still be moving forward, you can even turn around and still be moving forward…

Every reroute is full of opportunities. It’s about being in the journey, not on some perfect path. When we stop judging our paths, we open ourselves up to a range of possibilities that we might never have considered if everything had gone "according to plan."

This isn't about not having goals or never feeling disappointed—it’s about resilience. It's about how quickly we recalibrate and continue moving forward. It's about trusting that oftentimes detours can lead to the most awesome, memorable moments. And just like our trusty navigation apps, we must trust in our ability to find our way, no matter how many times we need to reroute.

Life, like any long drive, is unpredictable and filled with turns we might not see coming. The beauty of it, however, lies in our ability to navigate through it all with grace, always moving forward, always recalculating, and always exploring new paths. So the next time you find yourself veering off the expected path, remember the navigation app. Reroute, don’t reprimand. Adjust your course and keep going.

 “Sometimes on the way to your dream, you get lost and find a better one.”

— Lisa Hammond

🎧 👉 Prefer audio? You can also listen to me share about this in podcast episode #107 here.