Hey,

This week has been big for me in a few ways, and I had a moment where I really questioned my path. Whenever I get like this, I know to pull out my journal, so while I was on a job helping produce a podcast, I put in my earbuds, and had a write.

If you feel like you don’t fit what everyone else is doing, I hope this resonates with the calling you feel.

“I don’t want to go to the city”

I’m trying my best to create my own trail
through hills and storms, oceans and valleys.

Why don’t I just take the highway instead?

Because I don’t want to go to the city
or down the middle lane.
There’s more than the city.

I’d rather walk.
For the things I’ll pass on my own trail,
over the nods of insecure approval I’ll receive on the highway to the city.

I’m always confronted as I walk,
because the trail is me.
I’m walking through me.
My hills and storms,
my oceans and my valleys.

What else am I meant to learn?
The intricacies of the road to the city, and to keep the tyres within the lines,
or the inexplicable magic that is me?

The heart that’s beneath my untrodden path,
all the light I’m yet to see.

I’ll never keep my tyres in the lanes they painted,
they’ve never worked for me.

I don’t want to go to the city.

To be honest, I don’t blame anyone for taking the highway.
There’s just something that keeps pulling me to this “trail”, this third path that’s available. And I think it’s much deeper than in order to not work a 9-5.

I work 7 days a week on my business. I work harder than I would in a 9-5. I don’t take holidays from this, because I honestly don’t really know how to. My work is an extension of the exploration into myself. It’s hard to explain to people, hard to relate to, difficult to summarise in small talk at a party, and leads to me facing myself, and in turn my fears, all the damn time.

If none of that made any sense to you, fair play, just smile and nod for me. I’m weird ik.

If you’re someone walking your own trail, just remember it is the catalyst to growth and change you aren’t going to be able to explain to your auntie at Christmas, but you’ll be changed forever for it, and you’ll know it.

Reply to this email with any thoughts if that made sense ;)

You can read my book The 3rd Path here [click me]

Enjoy the journey,

Sam.

Sam Witness is a filmmaker, mentor, and creator who helps young people escape the University Tunnel and design lives of freedom, creativity, and purpose.

After dropping out of university at 20 with no plan — just a camera and a calling — Sam turned his passion into a global movement inspiring thousands to choose a different path. Through his videos, writing, and mentorship, he equips young adults to ditch the script and build a life that’s truly their own.

Creating a “3rd Path” is his deepest mission — a rallying cry for those who were never meant to fit in.