The last two decades of network science have discovered stunning similarities in the topological characteristics of real life networks (many biological, social, transportation and organizational networks) on a strong empirical basis. However our knowledge about the operational paths used in these networks is very limited, which prohibits the proper understanding of the principles of their functioning. Today, the most widely adopted hypothesis about the structure of the operational paths is the shortest path assumption. Here we present a striking result that the paths in various networks are significantly stretched compared to their shortest counterparts. Stretch distributions are also found to be extremely similar. This phenomenon is empirically confirmed on four networks from diverse areas of life. We also identify the high-level path selection rules nature seems to use when picking its paths.