I didn’t get into Harvard. I’d never failed on anything I cared about academically, so that pretty much crushed my young ego. Today, 23 years later, I was walking across the Harvard campus with some of my fellow Googlers, some who went there. I’m in a job I love and have done more in my career than I would have imagined, so I can now look back and laugh at how upset I was over that rejection. But at the time, it felt like my world was collapsing. I’d built my castle on shifting sands.

Sometimes we think there’s only one path for us. We think we know better than the universe about where we’re going. A few paths can take us where we want to go in our careers, but there are other paths that can take us to even better places we couldn’t have imagined. Humbly, I don’t know if we actually have the choice about where we end up, but I do believe we can choose how we feel about it.

So remember, it’s how you walk the path that will matter most, not where it goes. Embrace the mystery and relentlessly seek to more deeply understand yourself. Make that your journey and then the destination won’t matter as much. Marvel at the unknown and let it humble you and spark your curiosity.

Learning these lessons takes time and happens in spurts and stages. It’s different for everyone, so don’t compare your path and your lessons to anyone else’s. That is the surest way to suffer in this life. You can’t rush this nor should you want to. Enjoy the journey, fellow travelers.