“There is no path, the path is made by walking.”-Antonio Machado

I was standing on top of an abandoned building in China.

Which was not on the itinerary.

Fifty metal stairs below me was a photographer I’d found on the internet.

In front of me was Chongqing, China : better known as “Cyberpunk City”.

32 million people. Skyscrapers stacked on skyscrapers. Bridges disappearing into buildings. Neon everywhere.

It looked less like China and more like someone had dropped me into the future.

Three days earlier, I didn’t even know this rooftop existed.

I came to Chongqing because I had seen videos of this insane place online. I had to see it.

My strategy was simple and effective:

Download Google Translate

Buy the plane ticket.

Courage over Comfort

I landed and now had to figure it out: first stop was a 131 floor building where they strap you into a harness, take you outside a skyscraper, and let you rappel off the side of the building with Chongqing’s neon skyline behind you.

Completely ridiculous.

Naturally, I booked it.

Then I discovered something called the “viral motorcycle experience.”

I’d never ridden a motorcycle before.

Naturally, I did that too.

But my favorite experience wasn’t either of those.

It wasn’t planned at all.

I had found a photographer online because I wanted someone who knew the best places to photograph Chongqing at night.

We met.

He took me through the city.

Eventually we arrived at an old building.

We went inside.

Then we started climbing.

One metal staircase.

Then another.

Then another.

Eventually, we climbed onto the roof.

And there it was.

Cyberpunk City.

I stood on the edge of that rooftop staring across one of the most extraordinary skylines I’d ever seen.

There was absolutely no way I could have planned this moment from Atlanta.

I couldn’t have known about this building.

I couldn’t have known about this rooftop.

I couldn’t have known this photographer would take me there.

I couldn’t have known what would be waiting at the top of those stairs.

I had to get to Chongqing first.

We keep waiting for clarity before we move.

But sometimes movement is how we find clarity.

Because you can’t Google what you haven’t discovered yet.

And sometimes the best view of your life is waiting somewhere you don’t even know exists.

Dash of Courage

You can only make decisions based on what you can currently see.

Take one step and you see something new.

Take another and you meet someone new.

Take another and you discover an opportunity you didn’t know existed.

Take another and the entire landscape changes.

Some possibilities only become visible after you start moving.

Courage over comfort,

Garrett

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