I followed a path my whole life. A good path. The right path. I studied, I went to college, I joined the Army, I went to college again, I got the white collar big city job, then I got the tech job. I was moving up the ladder. I was good at operations. I did good work.
Until I didn't. Until I realized that the life I built was drawn out like a map to get to some treasure at the end. And I didn't even know what the treasure was.
I lived for an achievement I didn't set as a goal. It came from some expectation, some framework I cobbled together based on what everyone else does — or thinks is winning, or good, or commendable. Something you look back on and think: yeah, I did a good job.
The frame broke. Then I broke.
So now we mend. In mending, things don't go as expected and some things get ruined — and when you look back, you see the progress you made in trying.