Perhaps life can be viewed as an unending series of open doors. Each door can be entered or denied. Once entered or denied your life is changed. All doors are one-way, with no reversals. Like the binary operations of a computer program, one decision calls for another, and each decision has results and consequences. If you miss a desired destination, rerouting means new doorways and perhaps extended time.
As far as I can tell, the doors I have entered in my life have all had signs or indicators as to what was in store for me on the other side, before I entered them. So many times, I either heard or saw the warning signs before entering poorly chosen doors. Most the doors I entered that were well chosen I entered because I saw or heard the results of others who passed through those or similar doors. At each door we have time to choose to enter or turn away, we do not have to make a rushed decision or be forcibly persuaded.
I remember a Brer Fox tale my father used to tell us. Each day Brer Fox would pass Brer Lion’s den and they would courteously greet one another. Each day Brer Lion would ask Brer Fox to come up and sit with him for a spell, just for good neighborly conversation. Each day Brer Fox would thank him for the invitation but continue on his way. One day Brer Lion chided Brer Fox for rejecting his hospitality. Brer Fox then told Brer Lion that he had been observing all the footprints leading up to Brer Lion’s den, and that all the footprints were leading in, but none seemed to be leading out. Again, he thanked Brer Lion for his hospitality and stated that based on his observation it was probably wise for him to decline the invitation.