Or are we just running away from the cascading events of the past, down the only path that remains, a result of our prior choices?
Running away is a negative chase, just with even less control. Go where the hungry lion isn't.
The concept of even being able to choose is a gift, a gift given by every circumstance you've encountered.
I think that the less we choose, the less chance to choose we have, mostly by self-conditioning. However, while the past dictates the present, it needn't dictate the future. We can make different choices. Be different, by doing different.
Rambling might be the greatest form of self-expression. Or the lowest. I am not sure.