July 17, 2026- Build your own bridge

No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one, but you yourself alone.

~Friedrich Nietzsche

We have all had guidance. We had parents, teachers, coaches, mentors who helped to shape us into what we are. That guidance could have been truly formative – both the advice that we chose to take and that we ran away from. Without it, we would have been left to figure this all out on our own, unable to draw from the wisdom of those who had already experienced many of the things we were living.

Hopefully, we learned an important skill through that process. We don’t need to know everything. There are people with lived experiences different from our own, who can provide wisdom we haven’t yet acquired. It is OK for us to lean on that wisdom, to admit that we haven’t seen nor done it all.

At the same time, the choices we make are ours. We cannot deflect the responsibility of our lives to anyone else, no matter how well or how poorly they may have advised us. Our life is not theirs to live. Our choices are not theirs to make. With the agency to write our own story, also comes the responsibility for how that story turns out.

This life we are living belongs to us, not to our ancestors, our teachers, our friends, nor to the people judging our social media feeds. Live as the best version of you would live. Align your actions with your intentions. Build your own bridge across the stream of life.