Rerouting: Lessons on Life from Google Maps

Last week, I went on a long drive. The destination: a church far, far away. The event: the baptism of my cousin’s baby.

I had an idea of the route. But as the winding roads of my land Kerala can surprise you with persistent traffic blocks, occasional road works, and rare landslides, I decided to seek the wisdom of google maps to show me the shortest and easiest route to the church.

It was a bright Sunday morning. So I expected a smooth journey without much traffic. And thus I set off.
At the onset, Maps advised me to take a route in the opposite direction of the one I had in mind. I decided to try it out. It took me to the highway in half an hour, much earlier than expected. I was happy.

But the happiness didn’t last long. Five kilometers in, Maps asked me to take a turn. When I saw the narrow road Maps pointed to, I hesitated and drove on; a decision I regretted in 5 minutes.

A few kilometers ahead, an accident blocked the highway. I got stuck in crawling traffic. It took me 30 minutes to cover the stretch I’d normally breezed through in 10.

Then I learned my lesson. Never doubt Google Maps.

For the rest of the journey, I switched off my resistance and blindly trusted the AI’s intelligence. If I were asked to make a right turn, I did that. Go through a tight road, you’ve got it. Halt and make a U-turn, now you are just teasing me.

I reached my destination 20 minutes late, the extra 20 minutes I spent in traffic due to my disobedience.

As I sat in the church, brooding over my lack of trust, a curious thought hit me: why can’t I trust the flow of life like I learned to trust Google Maps?

Amusingly, there are many parallels between the life’s flow and Google Maps. Life, like the Maps, makes you feel that you are being led in the wrong direction sometimes. At others, through unnecessary hardships and dark, narrow lanes. Just when we start enjoying the rare, smooth ride, an unexpected turn breaks the fun.

This makes us frustrated.

But if we resist the flow, and try to steer away from the narrow alleys, we are in trouble. We think we can avoid the narrow pathways and ride on. But we end up stuck in unforeseen challenges.

For instance, think of a teenager who dropped out of high school. She avoided the hard work of learning and took the easy route, opting for part-time jobs and spending time with friends. In the long run, however, she’d face harsh life challenges. Challenges that could’ve been avoided.

Hence, it is better not to resist and follow the path life sketches out for us. Just imagine how sophisticated the universe is compared to Google Maps. It perfectly conducts all the activities of millions of galaxies, trillions of stars, and even the innumerable atoms like a grand concert. But we don’t trust the energy behind all this.

Just think of life as google maps. If it directs you to a narrow and dark alleyway of failure, take it. If the way ahead is full of twists and turns of bad luck, take it. Even if the road seems to take you on a detour, take it. Maybe there is an unseen road to liberation right at the end of it.

So next time you’re rerouted—by Maps or by life—don’t resist. Trust the flow. It knows its way.