Sometimes, we walk in to an environment, knowing that in the long term that’s not where we want to be. This won’t lead to our endgame.

Yet we still walk in there for many reasons, telling ourselves that it is just a temporary stop gap to where we want to be headed eventually or that we are just trying to learn the most and get out as soon as the apprenticeship is over.

We believe that as long as we have our own endgame in mind and keep our head in the right place, we will be able to leave the place with our ultimate vision intact, and perhaps even stronger than before we walked in.

And some of us are strong enough to do that. And there’s a case to be made that by exploring tangential paths, we are able to find better vision that we wouldn’t have been able to find otherwise.

However, if your vision is clear, or rather, even if your vision is clear in the beginning, it is very easy to be swayed by the environment that we choose to walk into, if we don’t pay close attention to where our head is at all times. Or rather, it is so easy to lose track of our Northstar even if we pay close attention to where our head is at.

This is especially true for those who hasn’t spent enough independent time figuring out their values and fleshing out their clear vision before surrounding themselves in certain environments.

And many people fall into this bucket as it is extremely rare and tough to have true “independent time” after most of us involuntarily walk into a classroom full of other kids at a very young age. After that entrance, our lives are mostly filled with peer pressure, FOMOs, and influneces of others (Don’t get me wrong. A lot of times in great directions as well).

So whenever there is an opporunity, try to isolate yourself from the pack and have time to yourself to ask the most important questions you need to answer to guide you in the long term. Figure out your Why.

Maybe the end result is the same with you walking back into a similar environment that you were in before the soul searching.

However, with a stronger vision and guiding compass, I believe the How will be different this time, driven by the strongly defined Why.

It is very rare in our lives to have this opportunity to be independent without responsibilities and ongoing commitments, so when life presents you with one, be sure to take it.

The one thing I can be sure now (as everyone’s path beforehand, the search, and the journey aftewards will be different) is that you will not regret that time off as long as you make it so.