Life is like driving a car.
Most people use a four-lane highway to navigate their life. Following the cars in front... getting off at the same exits... doing the same speed limit. And for most drivers, they travel the same route day in and day out.
Then there are a few of us who have been on the dirt roads, the one lane roads... where there are no road signs to help you navigate, you simply enjoy the beauty of the drive. You know, those non-conforming, independent doers and thinkers.
If you are the dirt road taker, chances are that the issues we are facing as individuals and as a nation, have you driving through, while taking it all in.
Our jobs, our businesses, our lives are simply microcosms of this four-lane highway. And these lanes we find ourselves in are busy and filled with angry people, all in a hurry to go nowhere.
And each one of us is like one of those cars on that four-lane highway. Hurrying to our destinations, trying to, as my dad use to say, “jockey for position.” Our lives, our humanity has become an endless cycle of on and off ramps.
But there are times when we need to take the road less traveled. The road that can help us recharge and think about those things that matter the most.
How do you get on those roads less travelled? Typically, we are forced on to those detours. It can be a personal crisis, or it can be a national crisis like we are facing today. These are the roads that come out of nowhere and make you swerve to the left or right in a moment’s notice.
Job loss, health crisis, relationships or one of the many other ‘out of nowhere’ things that happen to us. Life during these times can feel like that. And right now, life on both an individual and national level feels just that way.
If we do not begin to take a step back from the noise, the hustle and bustle of that four-lane highway where we are just following the crowd…we can never heal.
These dirt roads of self-reflection will be rocky and filled with potholes. And with flat tires and false starts.
The ups and downs on this road will make you want to quit, go back, and follow the crowd on the four-lane highway with its smog and congestion of sameness. With its tailgating and, collective consciousness of hatred and fear.
On this dirt road with all its setbacks, we find that everyone’s differences belong. We find the road to self-care and healing. We find value in slowing down long enough to see one another.
And the best part of that back dirt filled road... it has only one exit... that is the exit only you can take. It is your exit from the noise of the crowd.
And that’s a brilliant glimpse of insight.
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