Member-only story
Can You Bring Other People Along on Your Life Path?
Yes — but no. Traveling companions on your life path are also on their own path.
I’ve been married since May 2015. My wife and I have been together since the spring of 2011. I can’t imagine my life without her as a part of it.
While in many ways we’re traveling along the same path — we’re not. Yes, we live together, do lots of different activities together, and are a partnership in this life. Yet still, our paths are not the same.
How in the hell does that work?
The reality is much simpler than many people credit it with being. For starters — we might be a couple, yet we’re utterly individuals first and foremost. For all that we share, we’re also considerably different. She’s an extreme introvert with introverted preferences and tendencies. I’m an ambivert, an introvert with extroverted tendencies. I love summer and the warmth of the sun; she loves winter and the cold.
Still, we walk this life together, despite — and to some degree because of — our differences. Yet we still are on different life paths.
The truth is — so’s everyone. No two people are ever on the same life path. Similar? Absolutely. The same? No.
