Issue 20 – The Desire Path
Or: The Routes We Take (Even When We Know Better)
I couldn’t help but wonder…
If the paths we’re not meant to take are the ones we end up walking the most.
Because there’s this thing — a desire path.
Those unofficial routes carved into grass.
Across parks. Through fields. Around perfectly planned pavements.
The path that wasn’t designed… but happened anyway.
Urban planners map out the “correct” way to walk.
Straight lines. Clean corners. Logical routes.
And yet, give people five minutes and we’ll cut across it.
We’ll create our own way.
Slightly messier. Slightly quicker. Slightly more us.
And eventually, that unofficial route becomes the most used one.
The grass gives in.
The path appears.
And I started thinking… don’t we do that in life too?
Because on paper, there’s always a “right” way.
The sensible job.
The safe choice.
The relationship that makes sense to everyone else.
The head path.
Clear. Structured. Approved.
But then there’s the other one.
The one you think about when you’re not supposed to.
The person you know isn’t quite right, but feels… something.
The decision that doesn’t make logical sense, but pulls at you anyway.
The heart path.
The desire path.
And if we’re being honest? We take it more than we admit.
We double back.
We wander off course.
We tell ourselves “just this once” like we haven’t said that before.
Because desire doesn’t really care about logic. It doesn’t wait for perfect timing or neat outcomes.
It just… pulls.
Sometimes it leads to something beautiful.
A story you wouldn’t trade.
A version of your life you never would’ve found otherwise.
And sometimes… it leads you right back to where you started.
Back to the same feeling.
The same quiet “I should’ve known better.”
And maybe that’s the part we don’t like to admit.
That we’re not always trying to get it right.
Sometimes we’re just trying to feel something.
Even if it’s temporary.
Even if it’s inconvenient.
Even if it’s a little bit self-sabotage dressed up as curiosity.
Because the perfectly paved path doesn’t always offer that.
It offers stability.
Security.
Predictability.
But not always excitement.
Not always connection.
Not always aliveness.
So we step off it.
Just slightly.
Just enough to see what happens.
And maybe the point isn’t choosing one over the other.
Maybe it’s knowing the difference.
Knowing when you’re following something real…
and when you’re just repeating a pattern in nicer lighting.
Because not every desire path is meant to be permanent.
Some are just detours.
Some are lessons.
Some are there to show you exactly why the original path existed in the first place.
And just like that… I realised the path I kept choosing wasn’t always the right one.
But it was always the one I needed to walk to understand why.