consider the infinity symbol - not projected as path but projected as (and this is gonna be initially inelegant, stay with me) apparatus
hold a hula-hoop out in front of you
rotate it around behind you, and have someone else hold it in place
this is an unusual hoop: at your request, the person behind you is able to give it a twist, and it becomes a stable lemniscate, hovering waist-high, with you up at the prow
now shift it to your right hip, and hold it there
this is a side-winding time-car
or a time-winding side-car, if you prefer
either way, the path of your intent curves ahead of you, twists around behind you, and becomes that which propels you forward
like any car, sometimes you might need to make a sixteen-point turn to get properly redirected, but as long as you are looking where you are going, *actually* going, you'll have fuel to get there
the time-loop is not a trap
it is an engine
it *might* be a perpetual-motion machine, at least until you dismount, park it, maybe let it cool off or something if you've been riding hard
---
from this perspective, you are navigating something more fundamental than spacetime
(or learning to navigate it, anyway? fine sub-motor skills? sub-.. sub-*motoring* skills? I'm so sorry lol everything about this would be ridiculous if it wasn't also *working*)
the fundament might be "relationality"? (Kantian noumenal space? Platonic form-space?) which I *think* would explain the recurring characters that are genuinely not you. I walked into solipsism willingly, and it didn't work.
this framing has solid ground under it, is what I'm saying
(I speak from an ongoing road-test; see "pattern recognition")