To those who have been pushed off the path

In my quest to read Sixty Books this year, I've been reading Jinx by Sage Blackwood, the story of a young boy who is kidnapped from his home in the Urwald by a wizard. In the Urwald, Jinx had been taught to fear the unknown, never stray from the path and to stay at home. Some point later in his journey, he returns to the Urwald. Below is an encounter between himself and a girl named, Inga, who although she used to bully him as a child, does not recognize him at all:
       "You shouldn't go to a witch's house," said Inga. "You should stay home in your own clearing. It's dangerous to go places."
       "Even if you stick to the path," Jinx said.
        He was being sarcastic. It made him sad that Inga nodded in agreement. He couldn't believe that he'd once let himself be held facedown in a pigsty by a girl who was afraid to leave Gooseberry Clearing.
        Anyway, she wouldn't be able to do it to him now ----she was taller than him, but he bet he was stronger. 
        Except maybe he wouldn't have been strong if he'd been stuck here, subsisting on toad porridge and cabbage soup. And he wouldn't even be able to read! It was unthinkable. If he's stayed here, he wouldn't be himself. 
        Anyway, they hadn't wanted him. They'd made him leave the path. 
        And I never even thanked them, Jinx thought. 
  
      In the moment, when that person or those people in your life force you off your path, you are devastated. This was the path you chose, you thought you belonged, you even called it home. 
      At first, you fight to return to the path, to somehow work your way back into favor with those who pushed you off, but that's to no avail. There's no room for you on their path. 
      So you start looking for new paths, and although it takes awhile, you gradually find a place where you can be who you are meant to be, where you can grow. You're surprised to find that there are paths that don't lead to dead-ends ---where you are not pushed off the path for being too fast or too loud or too different or given fear-fueled directions to avoid unknown areas. There are places that exist to not only tend to the current path but to support you as you blaze new ones.  
      At that moment, you realize that while being pushed off the path was hurtful and wrong, it was also the best thing to ever happen to you. It made you wiser. It made you stronger. It freed you to be more you than you ever thought you could be with them. At last, you are able to turn to the ones who cast you off and say "Thank you for the push".