“A journey is like a marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think that you control it”

The journey that you take, whether in pursuit of a goal, an experience, an exploration, or life itself, can never be completely controlled. You can, through effort and persistence, shape it, but you cannot believe yourself to be in control of it.

John Steinbeck’s quote reminds us that no matter what you do, life cannot be controlled. Therefore, it is better in investing in the fortitude to react to what life throws at us than to try to control life.

Mr Steinbeck’s comparison of the lack of control one has in a journey to a marriage is a way of teaching those of us who are not married what a marriage is like. A marriage requires a permanent union between two people. Thus, there is no way for one person to control it (provided that it is a marriage between equals, as it should be).

Of course, people who read this can make jokes about it, with references to experiences that the man and the woman, respectively have. While many will start first at how little control the man has, it’s not as if the woman has a free ride to dictate the marriage however she likes.

Any successful marriage requires compromise between both participants, and an acceptance that they will have to make sacrifices; on what they want, and a level of control. No person can truly know another completely. That is why we have to accommodate the fact that they will act and think differently than us.

But back to the journey. Taking Mr Steinbeck’s quote, we should understand that the best way to have a successful journey is to accept that a certain level of control will be lost. Doing so will make the times in your life where things happen against your will easier to react to.

If you let go of your need to control how your journey goes, you will be ready for the times when things seem out of your control. Accept that things, good and bad, will happen to you, and make sure you have the strength to get through it.