Someone once told me, “Open every door that you possibly can. And the doors that shut—let them. Give yourself space and time to explore the doors that do open. Keep walking through the doors that remain open.”
I don’t think I fully understood it at the time. It sounded poetic, sure, but I still felt desperate to force things to work—relationships, jobs, timelines, even versions of myself I had outgrown.
But now? Now I get it.
There’s something so deeply human about clinging to the doors we wanted to stay open. The almost-opportunities. The nearly-lovers. The timing that didn’t align. But I’ve learned that life has a way of rerouting you in quiet, unexplainable ways. And the more you try to pick the lock, the more you miss what’s already opening behind you.
This advice changed the way I approach decisions, uncertainty, and even grief. It reminded me that my only job is to try. To explore. To push gently on the doors in front of me—without needing to know what’s on the other side.
And if it opens? Walk through.
If it closes? Don’t take it personally.
If it stays open, feels right, and asks for more of you? That’s a direction worth exploring.
We don’t have to know exactly where we’re headed to trust the path. Sometimes, the best thing we can do is pay attention to what’s unfolding naturally—without force, without fear.
So here’s what I’ll ask you:
What door have you been trying to pry open?
And what door has quietly remained open this whole time, waiting for you to walk through it?
