Contents:
This article is about a principle of preventing information about you from being actionable.
The metaphor of taking the same path back the way you came from will be applied to all forms of travel / progress, whether physical or not. Career moves can fall into the category of going back the way you came, so can forgiving those you shouldn’t forgive time and again.
Keep in mind that ending up at the same place you started is distinct to taking the same path back to where you started. For example, jogging a route that starts and ends at your home isn’t the same as jogging on the same road away from, then back to, your home. This article is about the latter case and the dangers that doing so exposes.
Preventing Information From Being Actionable
Travel in a certain direction – whether in the physical or figurative form – allows observers to collect information about you. Returning in that same direction provides twice the amount of exposure for those individuals to directly act on that information. The direction, destination, duration, and purpose of your travel can be vital information for those seeking to take action.
Returning the same way you came from allows the same people, with the same information, to act upon you under the same circumstances for a second time. The individuals who see you travel one way then back the same way you came have the luxury of time and a second chance. These variables are beneficial to someone looking to inflict damage – be it physical or not.
Those who know your precise path of travel and destination are better equipped to deliver blows than those witnessing your travel trajectory for the first time without knowing where you’re going.
Maintaining Passer-By Status
Being a passer-by thereby provides the advantage of ensuring preparedness is always on your side in the context of meeting people along your way. You can research where you’re going, the path you’re taking, and the people you’ll meet on that path. Those you meet however, will be freshly exposed to you; without knowledge of where you came from, where you’re going, and what path you’re taking.
The veil of fresh exposure is critical to defending your plans and goals from nefarious attempts at limiting them. A distinguishing factor that makes information about you dangerous to you is the extent to which it is actionable. One principle of preventing information about you from being actionable is not returning the same way you came.
As mentioned prior, returning the same way you came allows for disgruntled parties to implement their plans of attack with accuracy. Be it physical, professional, or social, returning the same way you came gives second chances to disgruntled parties you already left behind.
The Self-Assured One Who’s Forced To Walk It Back
Of particular note are those who travel down paths in a self-assured, arrogant manner. Whether it be career paths, hiking paths, or road trip directions, people don’t seem to enjoy someone who is too sure of their decision to take a certain path. The arrogant path traveler is sure to face adversity should they be forced to humbly walk back their steps.
These returning individuals are prime targets for attack as the collective crowd of onlookers is likely to let disgruntled acts against the arrogant traveler slide. Maintaining a sense of humility around your decisions to travel down certain paths is an insurance policy for the odd chance that you may need to walk things back and perhaps seek understanding from those you passed along the way.