I've been doing a lot of thinking about life over the years and I keep coming back to the idea that our life journey is very much like a "Cosmic Road Trip". We start off on a trip with our parents or guardians, stuffed in the back seat of whatever car they happen to be driving. We learn about our world by seeing it through their eyes and listening to their experiences. As we grow, we take small journeys with other family members, or friends and their families, or just friends. We travel down the roads they're traveling and see the sights they enjoy.
As we grow even older, and start to have lives of our own we find jobs and we buy our own cars. We establish our own homes and start taking more and more journeys of our own.
It's occurred to me that we spend an awful amount of time on the freeway (or Interstate)--rushing along with others, simply because it's efficient and expected. EVERYONE is in a hurry and they "need" to get where they're going quickly, take care of their business quickly, and return quickly so they can do all the things that "need" to be done. We're given precious little time to actually enjoy life, squeezing all the important things into our very brief weekends--and sometimes we even get to take a small vacation! We plan for these breaks, rush around getting all the things we need for our trip, planning our itineraries, packing our bags, and taking off.
Even on our vacations, we rush along the Interstate, jammed in with everyone else who's in a hurry to get somewhere. Because we're in such a rush, we lose sight of the important things in life. There's often traffic along the way, we get stuck in traffic jams, tempers flare, and some people even find themselves in accidents. Sometimes, we return home from our vacations feeling more stressed and tired than we were when we left! When we return to our jobs afterwards, we seem to find ourselves back in the same old vicious cycle.
As I thought about my own journey, I realized that I had learned to let OTHERS dictate what I should do on my travels. I took certain routes, went to certain destinations, and "kept up with the speed of traffic" because it was simply expected of me. At the end of the day, I realized that these expectations only benefited others--namely those who made a few dollars at my expense. There are clearly many who profit (and profit handsomely) from our blind acceptance of what "society" expects of us. And these expectations aren't especially helpful to our experience.
As I thundered down the Interstate, weaving in and out of traffic and hellbent on getting where I "needed" to go, it hit me:
I didn't HAVE to believe what someone else told me I should believe in.
I didn't HAVE to think what others told me I should think.
I didn't HAVE to say what others said I should say.
I didn't HAVE to do what others thought I should do.
I didn't HAVE to go where others thought I should go.
I discovered I had a choice. And I took it.
I cranked the wheel at the next offramp and got OFF the Interstate.
As soon as I turned off the mainstream, I noticed an immediate change. There was much less traffic, the pace was slower, the air was cleaner, and people were much less stressed and harried. In fact, most of them seemed downright friendly! The views were much more beautiful, too. Instead of focusing on the speeding traffic and intense faces in the cars around me, I took notice of the pleasant scenery. Meandering creeks, abundant wildlife, and sunlight filtering through colorful leaves are a much more welcome sight than steel signs and concrete overpasses.
So how much of your journey has been spent in the fast lane? Do you really and truly NEED to be there?
Go on...merge over to the slow lane, slow down, and pull off at the next exit--or at one of the first exits that seems "interesting". Take your time and explore a little, even if it's only for an hour or two. Believe me, there's far more to life than what you can see from the Interstate. And the rest of the world will still be rushing along when you hop back on.
Go on. Take a little side trip--and make a habit of it. You know you really want to...
As we grow even older, and start to have lives of our own we find jobs and we buy our own cars. We establish our own homes and start taking more and more journeys of our own.
It's occurred to me that we spend an awful amount of time on the freeway (or Interstate)--rushing along with others, simply because it's efficient and expected. EVERYONE is in a hurry and they "need" to get where they're going quickly, take care of their business quickly, and return quickly so they can do all the things that "need" to be done. We're given precious little time to actually enjoy life, squeezing all the important things into our very brief weekends--and sometimes we even get to take a small vacation! We plan for these breaks, rush around getting all the things we need for our trip, planning our itineraries, packing our bags, and taking off.
Even on our vacations, we rush along the Interstate, jammed in with everyone else who's in a hurry to get somewhere. Because we're in such a rush, we lose sight of the important things in life. There's often traffic along the way, we get stuck in traffic jams, tempers flare, and some people even find themselves in accidents. Sometimes, we return home from our vacations feeling more stressed and tired than we were when we left! When we return to our jobs afterwards, we seem to find ourselves back in the same old vicious cycle.
As I thought about my own journey, I realized that I had learned to let OTHERS dictate what I should do on my travels. I took certain routes, went to certain destinations, and "kept up with the speed of traffic" because it was simply expected of me. At the end of the day, I realized that these expectations only benefited others--namely those who made a few dollars at my expense. There are clearly many who profit (and profit handsomely) from our blind acceptance of what "society" expects of us. And these expectations aren't especially helpful to our experience.
As I thundered down the Interstate, weaving in and out of traffic and hellbent on getting where I "needed" to go, it hit me:
I didn't HAVE to believe what someone else told me I should believe in.
I didn't HAVE to think what others told me I should think.
I didn't HAVE to say what others said I should say.
I didn't HAVE to do what others thought I should do.
I didn't HAVE to go where others thought I should go.
I discovered I had a choice. And I took it.
I cranked the wheel at the next offramp and got OFF the Interstate.
As soon as I turned off the mainstream, I noticed an immediate change. There was much less traffic, the pace was slower, the air was cleaner, and people were much less stressed and harried. In fact, most of them seemed downright friendly! The views were much more beautiful, too. Instead of focusing on the speeding traffic and intense faces in the cars around me, I took notice of the pleasant scenery. Meandering creeks, abundant wildlife, and sunlight filtering through colorful leaves are a much more welcome sight than steel signs and concrete overpasses.
So how much of your journey has been spent in the fast lane? Do you really and truly NEED to be there?
Go on...merge over to the slow lane, slow down, and pull off at the next exit--or at one of the first exits that seems "interesting". Take your time and explore a little, even if it's only for an hour or two. Believe me, there's far more to life than what you can see from the Interstate. And the rest of the world will still be rushing along when you hop back on.
Go on. Take a little side trip--and make a habit of it. You know you really want to...
