There are times in our life when we must race. To get to work on time, to finish a project for the big presentation, to get your 6-year-old to their T-Ball game (or to send your column to your Editor before the deadline!) I don’t like to race through life but there are times when I must if I want to keep my commitment. Sometimes it’s because I procrastinated earlier and sometimes it’s because I’ve taken on a large workload. So, I will race when it’s needed until I get through the pressing task at hand. Then, when things are calm again, I’ll take time to review and re-evaluate how I’m managing my time and see if I can make some changes to get out of Race Time and back into the Journey Lane.
Thirty years ago, when I was a full-time mom of 4 kids while working part time, going to school part time and volunteering in my community I lived mainly in Race Time. I believed that there was no option, that it’s just how life is. Partly true, but I did have more options than I exercised. My unhealthy belief pattern caused me to try to be all things to all people. It took illness to finally convince me of the need to re-set my compass and navigate my way back to living a healthy balanced life with healthy boundaries. It was not an easy or a straight pathway. My journey was filled with many Dead Ends, U-turns, Icy Conditions, Construction Zones, Sharp Turns, Closed Roads, No Entry and sometimes going the wrong way on a One Way Only!
I eventually came to view life as a journey; kind of like taking a road trip. Whenever I’m on a road trip, part of the journey for me is to explore, see, taste, hear, feel, engage and learn as I travel. I don’t want to be so consumed with arriving at my destination that I race past all the beautiful scenery or the quaint little artisan shops, family-owned bistros, art museums, and community gardens. I want to plan my journey so that I have time to fully experience the entire trip. Sometimes this is just not possible, and I accept that. But if Race Time starts to become my everyday speed, then it’s time to re-evaluate my life and find ways to slow down to enjoy these truly meaningful experiences.
If this analogy speaks to you, then I hope you will join me on an explorative journey through a year of review, re-evaluation, and re-scheduling of our time, our living and workspaces and the many general issues in life that come our way!
Sometimes our pathway will be an open highway with a smooth surface and sunny skies above; but sometimes it will be an old dirt road with lots of potholes and storm clouds overhead. There will be times when we’ll need to stop to fill our tanks, clear our windshields, cool our engines and pump up our tires. Other times we’ll need to delay our journey for a much-needed tune-up or worse, major repairs. We’ll have to slow down through a school zone and speed up on a 4-lane highway, ease into the traffic flow or yield the right of way. There will be times when even the best GPS can get us lost & confused. It’s during these times that we may turn on each other and blame our road trip partner for our situation; or we may become the passenger who keeps telling the driver where to go – causing the driver to want to tell us where to go! Along the way we’ll come across many parking lots; some with very picturesque views that tempt us to stay parked. But we aren’t meant to park in life; we’re meant to journey.
This may sound exhausting and quite frankly, totally sucking all the fun out of the road trip, so please let me add that along the way there will be scenic views that we could not even dream of, with lovely resting spots for us to enjoy a picnic lunch and fresh clean air; and maybe a waterfall or a cool stream to dip our feet into.
There will be wonderful people to join us on our road trip that will make the low points less painful, the difficult points less stressful and the high points more meaningful. There will be mountains to inspire and amaze us and gorgeous lakes to refresh and rejuvenate us. There will be star-studded night skies to gaze up to and place our deepest wish upon the brightest star. There will be magical rainbows in a summer sky and awesome Northern Lights in a winter sky.
And there will be all of us, together on this journey, for guidance, for comfort, for fun and for companionship. If this road trip sounds good to you, please fasten your seatbelts, because it’s going to be a fascinating journey!
Meet me here next week at the corner of Possibility Street and New Way Avenue to begin our journey for 2022!
