“We are explorers, who live forward – but map backward.” — Poet, Mark Nepo.
Just let that sink in. It is such a profound truth, isn’t it? We put our heads down and power through each day, confident that what we are doing will get us “somewhere”.
Do we really know where we are going? Are we sure-footed about this path we are on? Does it still make sense? Is it worth all our time and effort, in the long run?
How many selfies have you taken over the past year, capturing snapshots in time, to bookmark moments from the journey? Scroll through the photo library on your phone and really study the highlight reel from 2025. Use your selfies to drop in to some self-reflection. You’ve probably long forgotten about the peak moments you captured for posterity as you trudge along now in your average day to day.
That compelling wisdom of being explorers, who live forward, but map backward is from Mark Nepo, the poet and sage life guide.
He offers us the invitation to take stock of how far we have gone, what we discovered along the way, and to do a serious “check-in” to see if staying the course, still makes sense. Rather than trying to “map out” what the coming year might look like – do a little reverse engineering and “map backward.”
It is rather humorous to think about January 2025 and how confident we probably were about how much control we thought we had looking out to December, 2025. Surely by year’s end, we would have really gotten somewhere.
Do you feel that way now, standing here on the roadside scenic vista looking back on the prior 365 days?
I believe that what Mark Nepo is imparting to us is the reality that 2026 will not be all smooth sailing, free of obstacles, breakdowns, side trips and breakthroughs. We can learn more by looking back on 2025 and taking stock of how we navigated life’s peaks and valleys than by dreamily mapping out 2026 pretending we won’t run into some snags.
Chances are pretty high that your selfies on your phone represent the peak experiences you had. Do you have a similar historical reference for the valleys?
Surely 2025 was chock full of peaks and valleys, highs and lows. Challenges faced and adversities overcome. The good times and the highlight reels are what keeps us going. We need the contrast to help us see that we are actually squeezing a lot of good stuff out of the lemons we get.
Mark Nepo invites us to pull over and take stock of how far we have come. Do this right now, in late January 2026. Prepare yourself to live forward this year, and use your 2025 trail notes as you map backward what you gained through self-discovery.
You are not the same person that you were in January 2025.
Who are you today? Where did you have some growth spurts? What life lessons really sank in? What did you learn from your past experiences? Most importantly, what did you learn about yourself?
It is doubtful that you will find the deeper work of growing forward in those selfies on your phone. Rather, it will be in your journal or the voice messages you recorded to coach yourself something really hard. You may even need to consult a historian to help you recall how far you’ve come. That would be your best friend, a mentor, a parent or coach. If you’re so lucky – it would be your accountability partner – that person you teamed up with last January to help you navigate 2025 with more self-awareness, emotional management and better life skills.
I recently had a very insightful coaching session that began with a recap of looking back on the biggest challenges I faced in the past year or two. It became very evident that the 8 weeks I spent journaling, reflecting and working my way through a pitfall, was actually one of the best growth spurts of the entire year. Here is what is so funny – there is no photographic evidence of that meaningful, challenging trek back up out of the trenches. But my phone highlight reel does have a series of me smiling euphorically on my first ever, exhilarating paragliding experience.
It is the contrast of those pivotal moments that shows me the relief map I most need as I prepare for all that I’ll encounter in 2026.
This is precisely what Mark Nepo is describing when he so artfully reminds us that we live forward and map backward. We need self-reflection to really see our personal “relief” map of the past.
Where did we face hard times and our biggest fears? Where did we discover that we can make things much harder than they have to be? What adversity actually showed up what we are made of, how we can do hard things? When something was so painful and discomforting, where did we find relief. Not just in the moment, but also for the long run?
Pull over this week and instead of taking a selfie, do some meaningful, thoughtful self reflection. Look back over 2025 and rather than focusing solely on the highlights, drop into the contours that really shaped you. Most of your inner growth comes from the trenches, from the low points, where you did have to work your way out.
Did you rise above those valleys, those pitfalls? What did you learn about life, about yourself from the challenges you faced in 2025? That is where you will find your footing and your guidance for this brand new year.
Self reflection is the mapping we do in reverse. By looking back and gathering up our lived experiences, our wealth of knowledge learned the hard way — we face life with greater self-awareness and clear intentions. We have no way of knowing what lies ahead. We do know for certain that we are better equipped to deal with it.
Noteworthy Resource:
Both of these books are short reads that are BIG on insights. If you need some encouragement and frames of reference, you’ll find it here.
