Shortly after I self-published The Map Is Not The Road booklet, I shared a copy with my dear mother-in-law. When she finished reading it, we visited, and she told me that the stroke she had in 2015 was her “flat tire experience.” As she explained, “from there on, I have been in a new country. Choices reduced and experiences reframed…. I’ve entered a new state. New road signs, new map-makers, yet all the maps of the past are still in the glove compartment, for references when needed.”
I’ve had my own flat tire experiences in life’s journey. Some are private and others are personal. A few of them were professional. For example, I remember the day when nearly a year and a half’s worth of work was canceled because one corporation was purchased by a larger corporation and they no longer wanted to provide on-going leadership training. Another time, after partnering, designing and presenting leadership training for a few years, a different company decided to move the entire process internal, and I lost this major contract. Each time, I wondered what would happen next and how the business would move forward. And each time, I learned some important lessons.
First, I learned that to embrace the journey is to respect the journey. I had to be willing to move forward and accept the path before me, not passively but actively embrace it. I needed to engage with the journey, not in denial, but with eye’s wide open. As Brene’ Brown says, “To embrace the suck.”
As part of this embracing the journey, I needed to be willing to experience the moments of unknowing and still move forward. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Faith is taking the first steps even when you don’t see the full staircase.”
Second, I learned another important lesson. Years ago during a Fall Roundtable, Christina Smith, CEO of Community Support Advocate, shared that “our sacrifices must reflect our priorities”. To embrace the journey is to have the courage to begin something that you do not know how it will end. Having the courage to dream and dream big is what most people think is the challenge, but for me the real challenge is to start the journey without fully knowing what will happen during the journey. It is to commit to one’s priorities and to recognize that I may not fully know the outcome or the destination. Yet, I am willing to commit to the journey because I know what is most important. As the old Irish proverb reminds us, “a good beginning is half the journey.”
Third, to embrace the journey is to be humble and recognize that we stand on the shoulders of others, namely our mothers, fathers, teachers, and mentors. These people loved us and encouraged us in spite of their challenges, and in spite of our own challenges. As Linda Hogan, a Native American Chickasaw, wrote “You are the result of the love of thousands.” For when we have the courage to embrace the journey, and are humble in the process, we will open doors, open minds, and open hearts. And the results will be transformative for all involved
© Geery Howe 2026
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