Visit any college campus and they’ll discuss how the college search and application process is a “journey.” They’re right that it is a journey to some degree, but it misses the point. College admissions is less flying a plane with an exact destination and step-by-step instructions and more like stepping through a minefield without a minesweeper.

I think of the college application process not as a series of best practices but minimizing your errors and missteps. The likelihood of misstepping is high even if you make baby steps to avoid the mines directly underneath your feet. You know that you need to get to a university on the other side, but the path is highly uncertain.

My new book Surviving the College Admissions Madness is the minesweeper that allows you to lift your head and look further afield to anticipate what’s coming. I want to help you open your eyes to see the mines more clearly so that you don’t cause harm to yourself and the other tens of thousands of applicants tiptoeing through the college admissions equivalent of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

Avoiding metaphorical landmines is often how I feel about traveling the world, which I’ve been doing continuously since 2014. I started Tex Admissions from my friend’s apartment in Guatemala City and have provided my services while rarely stepping foot in America. For over four years, I didn’t remain in a single location for more than a month, usually moving every few days.

I’ve worked from airplanes, bus stops, humid hostels, and even broken down by the side of rural roads. I have to buy a new computer every two years because constant jostling, dust, and humidity decays their components quickly. One computer died the day before I flew from Dallas to Barbados to begin 2017, forcing me to make a late-night Best Buy run to buy a new one.

Traveling is continually humbling because it forces me to accept that I don’t know what I don’t know. Over time, I’ve acquired an extensive catalog of possible dangers to anticipate. Still, I’m frequently caught off guard. Once, a freak electrocution accident at a Tongan guesthouse nearly severed my right second toe and led to a Kafkaesque experience at Tonga’s national public hospital.

It’s challenging to plan a month ahead when I rarely know where life will take me next week or even later that day. I accept the reality that life never proceeds neatly from A to B to C, no matter how much I plan and anticipate. Providing a glimpse into my unconventional lifestyle will help frame my admissions perspectives. Thousands of travelers have gone before me, just like the hundreds of thousands of college applicants who have gone before you. We’re each the heroes of our own stories who need to learn tough lessons firsthand to learn and grow. If you can learn from others’ mistakes or receive the wisdom of experienced mentors, you might save yourself a lot of pain. I wish you the best as you tiptoe through the college admissions minefield.