Choosing to Move Without a Map

Maps are comforting.

They tell you where you are.

They show you where to go.

They reduce the unknown into clear directions.

For most of my life,

I lived by maps —

clear goals,

five-year plans,

predictable milestones.

But life has a way of taking the map out of your hands.

When the Map Became Useless

After the layoffs,

I had no plan.

I wasn’t chasing a new title.

I wasn’t updating my résumé.

I wasn’t plotting my next move.

For the first time,

I wasn’t moving toward anything.

And it felt wrong —

like I was wasting time,

like I was falling behind.

The truth is,

I had a plan.

When I started my MBA,

I intended to pivot into finance.

Before graduation,

I secured a full-time offer from a finance firm.

Two months before graduation,

that offer was rescinded —

canceled abruptly due to worsening market conditions.

The map I thought would guarantee my future was torn from my hands.

When the World Changed

And the world wasn’t waiting for my plan to catch up.

Cloud technology was booming.

Tech was no longer a backup plan —

it was becoming the main stage.

Meanwhile, finance tightened —

weighed down by increased regulations,

growing more cautious and less dynamic.

The plan I made wasn’t wrong —

it was simply no longer relevant.

It wasn’t my failure.

It wasn’t a miscalculation.

The world had changed its map first.
And I had to change mine, too.

Moving Without Knowing

Slowly,

I realized that stillness was its own kind of movement.

I started listening —

to the silence,

to the small curiosities that pulled at me.

I learned to move without knowing exactly where I was going.

It wasn’t efficient.

It wasn’t linear.

But it was real.

Step by uncertain step,

the next chapter of my life began to reveal itself —

not because I had mapped it out,

but because I stayed open enough to find it.

Trading Control for Curiosity

Moving without a map isn’t about giving up control.

It’s about choosing curiosity instead.

It’s about admitting:

"I don’t know what’s next — and that’s okay."

It’s about trusting that not all movement needs a destination.

Some roads are made by walking.

A New Kind of Map

When I joined a startup,

no one handed me a map.

"You have to draw it yourself."

At first, it was overwhelming.

I had spent years in big organizations

where systems, processes, and resources

were as invisible and essential as air.

At the startup,

none of it was there.

And that’s where my creativity began.

Not by following a plan,

but by building the road beneath my feet.

Still Driving

Even now,

I don’t have a perfect map.

I don’t know where I’ll be in five years.

I don’t know what title I’ll have.

I don’t know what city I’ll call home.

But I’ve learned —

not knowing is part of the drive.

It’s not a detour.

It’s the journey.

Hop in. Let’s drive — together.

You don’t always need a map.

You just need to keep moving.

Hop in.

Let’s drive — together.