Curious to see one of the most instagrammable sights in Toledo, Mo and I plummeted on a trip to South to also share our own version of the famous Labyrinth snaps. Pretty much enlivened, we used Waze to ensure not to miss the beauty spot. After a 2-hour odyssey, we finally reached our destination–only to find out that our expectation didn’t match with the reality.

Our funny tête-à-tête:

“Where is the Labyrinth?”

“This is the Labyrinth.”

“No, this isn’t the Labyrinth”.

“Ian, this is the Labyrinth. Look up!” I looked up and saw labyrinth inscribe on wood.

“This is it?”

“This is it!”

While Mo was taking candid shots of me, I cannot help but laugh out loud on the milieu. Both of us were expecting an elaborate, confusing green structure we see in Greek movies (or as we imagined from reading novels). We were even ready to get lost and then find each other under a gigantic tree.  But reality sank in. The Labyrinth is just a small garden of green plants constructed next to a private catholic chapel.  Then, we learnt that it was actually designed for meditation or praying the Holy Rosary– a symbolic form of pilgrimage which one can walk the path ascending towards salvation or enlightenment – NOT A MAZE TO GET LOST. Hence, the expectation gap.

Just like LIFE.  We paint our lives with too many colours and write lofty goals only to uncover the epilogues are nothing like what we expect them to be  – either we lament on how unfair life is  or we  rejoice for such pleasant turn out of events. How often did we cry over bad investments in stock market, fiasco relationships, or even birthdays un-celebrated with loved ones? How many times did we jump for joy for every hard work recognised, successful project proposals or even just when Mr. Crush finally says its sweet “hello”.

If only we can predict every outcome, right? Yet, we can’t. We do not have the ability to see in full accuracy what the future holds for us. We can only make decisions based on knowledge, information, sometimes intuition but we can’t control life’s unknowns and detours. Perception is not the reality.

So it was not a maze to get lost, and like me, you may have exclaimed this-is-it-! twice or more (at some point in your life) but it is how you enjoy this kind of life’s fireworks and hiccups. Mo and I had our share of an epic fail expectation-vs-reality moments but it didn’t stop us from from having fun learning that perception and reality don’t always match up. Live the adventure and be resilient in taking on life’s beautiful strides.