Life is the most wonderful journey we make. From birth to death we drive ourselves. Others may try to drive us but we decide where we shall go. There are limits, of course. We navigate tricky and beautiful stretches, joyful and sad passages, rewarding and disappointing episodes. We refuel at food stops, get refurbished at beauty parlors and medical centers.
They are all pauses on our Life Road. Please create a map of your life.
You can start it at any point in your journey, dawdle along the way, race over the bumpy bits, relax at a high point to appreciate your achievements. Bathe in the sea, climb a tree, stretch your legs to see the sunset. Yawn through the wildest dreams, run from dreaded nightmares. Your life reflects who you are, what good and bad luck you find on the journey. It’s also what you decide it will be. Life is always about the next step, even at the end. Making a life map helps you decide the next step. Make your next step adventurous.
Maps have pictures. Show pictures in your life map. Maps have connections, roads, canals, railway lines, airports. Mention them, they are usually quite emotional places. You move around for holidays, for work, for learning. You see cities, countryside. You get joy, sorrow, elation, fear. Map your life for your family, for your loved ones. Maybe soon for ever?
Map it most importantly for yourself.
Start by writing the ten most important things that have happened in your life – your own opinion, please, not what you imagine others will think or expect. These don’t have to be grand events, though some may be. My meeting King George VI in 1946 was a grand event for me but my meeting my first girlfriend in 1949 was even grander.
Now put your ten things in chronological order, the first to the left, the last to the right. And start filling in the gaps between the ten places. Put things you can recall, especially if they were significant for you. This is your chance to creatively remember the milestones. In years to come someone will pick the map up and travel the journey, wishing they had you to accompany them. Make it a friendly map and they will be able to.
Tell the stories you always wanted to tell. Relive the joys as only well-prompted memory can do. Let the aches out to be banished forever. Write a jingle for the joys and sing it, even if only to yourself in the shower. Enjoy the rich, glorious aspects of your life.
Be grateful you were able to drive your life as much as you could even if that wasn’t so very far. You don’t have to be an F1 driver to grasp the wheel. You don’t have to be a winner to enjoy life. You just have to recall it with pleasure.
Yours will be sensational.
I hope.
Good morning
John Bittleston
Free advice on any help you need to get your life map going.
Just email me at [email protected].
06 October 2025
