There have been some strong stories over these past couple of years.

One’s that I’ve needed to let go of. One’s that I’ve thought I needed to let go of, but ended up realizing farther down the line that I actually needed to follow them. They weren’t stories. They were dreams. They were callings that I confused as things that were ready to pass.

They weren’t.

I think as time has gone on, I’ve started to hear more and more whispers about which way I should go. Traveling this past year has been incredibly good for me. It has opened my eyes in so many ways and has brought so much peace after going through initial hardships.

But even in all of this traveling, as my expectations were cracked in many ways and completely blown away in others, I’ve realized something that really became a great truth for me. Everyone, when it really comes down to it, is much more the same than different.

From meeting people on trains, to laughing with locals in bars, to running into people on the street or even asking an old Italian lady how to properly bag the produce with a complicated machine in Italy…everyone had that same feel to them.

Heart.

Soul.

The same.

I used to be pretty wary of people for a long time. There’s a pretty long story as to why which I won’t really get into now. But I would be on the lookout for someone to really pull the rug out from underneath me. As I’ve learned to trust everything much more, I’m always okay. Situations come up that really are challenging, but other than that, everything always seems to work out the way it needs to.

That sense of defensiveness has been lowered.

And all those stories that arrive when you leave a place you’ve known for such a long time on your own begin to dissolve. The fears fall away. Happiness and joy start to take their place.

When I quiet down and really listen, I see paths clearly. I see a route that’s almost illuminated.

All those years ago when I started this, I didn’t really see anything at all. I simply knew that I would be doing something that was good for me and that it would possibly make a difference for someone who was reading it. But it was how I survived that time. It was what I really needed.

But now, I see something completely different.

I see a journey that is not about covering all these different continents on the earth, but a greater one, one that travels deep inside myself.

No matter how many doubts or worries I’ve had about what would happen if I took that journey and didn’t do other things that I thought I should do, it has always come back to me over and over again. The illuminated path.

An awakening.

At times, I’ve followed it. Dabbled. I saw what could come from it. I opened once I did. Then I would go off and do something else. Travel. See these places. But I’ve always known. I’ve always know that was the way I needed to head once I was fully ready to acknowledge it.

I think all this space that has been created for me as I’ve been on my own traveling did allow for that acknowledgement to rise.

That whisper has come back…

It’s time to do x,y,z…

So there’s that sense of stepping onto a path that has felt destined at times. It’s almost as if your foot fits perfectly into a footprint that was placed on the beach just for you. I’ve just been a bit nervous about letting go of other things so I could take a step into that footprint.

But what I’ve realized is this…

That footprint brings the ultimate form of safety.

Because the knowingness that comes along with it settles the soul. You are on the right path. This is what you need to do.

So do it.

Take it.

It is there for you.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project