Wayfinding: Creating Without a Map
On moving forward even when you don't know where you're headed
The other day, while working through the Design Your Life framework, I came across a term that really resonated: wayfinding.
Wayfinding is the art of figuring out where you’re going when you don’t know the exact destination. You don’t need a map, just a compass. And that compass is made up of clues: joy, curiosity, energy, alignment, resonance, aliveness.
It landed so deeply because it put a label on the moment I am currently in (and have been in for a while!)
Out the Other Side
A few months ago, I quit life as I knew it.
After years of living in London, building my “dream career” at The School of Life, and trying to keep up with the fast-paced corporate grind, I realised I didn’t want to keep following the script of what I thought it meant to be “successful.”
So I stepped away.
Now I’m out the other side of that ending, teaching yoga at a surf camp in Sri Lanka, collaborating on creative design and facilitation projects, and (for the first time in a long time) giving myself full permission to build something of my own.
It’s freeing, yes. But it’s also confronting.
There are no rules here. No guidelines. No shared brainstorms. No pre-planned strategy to follow. No team to lean on.
It’s like staring down at a blank piece of paper and having to put the pen down, not knowing what the final drawing will be.
A Compass, Not a Map
But luckily, I have realised my page isn’t blank. I know what I care about. I know where my curiosity lies. I know the things I’m good at. And actually that is absolutely enough to begin.
This is where wayfinding comes in. I don’t need a clear map. Or the final destination in mind. I just need to follow the compass clues.
The clues are simple:
What lights me up?
What am I curious towards?
What energises me?
What feels alive?
What is fulfilling?
What do I value?
What brings me peace and joy?
Answers to these form the path of which to follow.
Following the Clues
Right now, those clues are pointing me toward:
Words → turning life lessons into language
Movement → yoga, embodiment, and what the body can teach us (going beyond our mind for wisdom!)
Connection and shared learning → creating spaces for reflection and expansion in groups
Building out loud → sharing the messy, unfolding process of transition
I don’t yet know exactly what I’m “building.” And maybe that’s the point.
An Invitation
If you’re also in a season of transition, maybe this will resonate: you don’t need to have it all mapped out.
You just need a few compass clues and the courage to follow them.