Throughout time, many have contemplated the road of life. Whether you are an intense spiritual being, an eccentric artist, deep author, illustrious painter, thoughtful poet or world traveler and philosopher or mindful musician, the road of life has been the charming muse of your soul and creative being.
The everyday person has their inspired road of life, too. But too often it is a traffic jam filled with the daily task of pounding the pavement to put food on the table and being stuck bumper to bumper. This often clouds contemplating the road philosophically other than with just air pollution.
Life is more than just a highway or a freeway of love. The road is more than just a country road, a rainbow, a city road, or a road that is broken, dusty, or crossed and long and winding. You don’t have to be the king of the road to enjoy it and you certainly don’t have to keep driving all night.
While we are reminded by everyday people that life is not about the destination, it is about the journey… I don’t argue with that. However, I feel that when the road actually ends, you ultimately want to end up at the end of the road NOT regretting that there isn’t one which you haven’t traveled.
Many people will talk about how difficult the road is (which is a whole other blog I won’t bother to writ)e. I think the road has its own road blocks and detours and we as the drivers need to make the right decisions on how to navigate safely accordingly, I think that the ‘open road’ discussion is one that hasn’t truly been addressed.
Mid-lifers (those in crisis and those feeling stuck) will tell you that the road open road isn’t so open once you broach it. People will speak openly about common topics….aging, health and a myriad of related things, but it’s a subject that is carefully taken on like a driving course of orange cones. There are certain forks in this road no one wants to drive on much less hug the curve of like a plagued spoon.
Clueless about what I am talking about? I am talking about the road which does eventually come to an end. Mortality. But I am also talking about life’s purpose.
If you had children in your early years, you are an empty-nester. Your children are gone now and you don’t feel as if you are needed anymore. If you are taking care of your family right now and seem to be in a daily rut, you are probably feeling “gee, is this all there is?”
And if you’re an over-achiever facing burn-out, you’re probably wondering which road to drive on next, wondering if at the end of it all, if it will have been worth it.
When experiencing a death, you look at life differently and through different eyes. You also realize that all the stuff this person got worked up over during life, really didn’t matter in the end. Basically, the road that was traveled was littered with life’s minor annoyances like nails in the tires, rather than anything that really made sense to go off-road for.
Swerving recklessly didn’t make the road better or more fun, but more dangerous. And driving 5 miles an hour doesn’t really make for a fun journey, either. But our road is our own and we must travel it as we see fit. We have a license to drive, we must drive responsibly so we don’t injure others in our path and we must also take the liberty to drive and obey the rules of the road so that we can actually keep on driving.
Driving in the middle of the road of indecision is more painful than anything else because you’re really not living on a specific course toward anything to make you say at the end of the road, “gee, that was fun.” But if this is your road by choice, and this is how you like it, there is room for you Sunday driver types.
The other day, I reminded someone who actually got a flat tire on their car, while plagued with the flu, that sometimes the Universe does indeed give you a flat tire or a speeding ticket to purposely immobilize you to stop in your tracks and get on a healthier one for the soul.
While this wasn’t the most enlightening advice I have given… (lol), it was indeed advice from the heart and there is truth to what I said. If we don’t maintain ourselves (like a car) – how in the heck can we go places? I believe the Universe gives you a speeding ticket when you are supposed to slow down in life to savor what life offers. I also believe that when driving down the road of life we are meant to let the wind blow through our hair, take time to enjoy the scenery and not worry about the speed bumps we encounter.
My mother was quick to remind me that when I was born, I didn’t come with an instruction book. And this of course translates to our being born without a road map, either. While our personal GPS will navigate us by instinct, we must also be mindful of the idea of riding in the carpool lane, when we decide to share life with a spouse/partner or take our families with us along for the ride. Sometimes, we can go places we never thought we would go all because we have passengers on board who give us a fresh perspective and direction which not only challenges us, but show us a new road to travel.
There is only a ‘wrong’ road in life when it conflicts with your core values and your divine purpose. You may become lost along the journey, but that doesn’t mean all is lost. Refuel, get yourself pointed the right way and you’ll be motoring down the road to great places with your Atlas of experience.
The meaning of life is not defined by how shiny your car is, how fast you go… what matters most is that you enjoyed your ride in life and you don’t have any regrets about any roads not traveled. If your odometer has a lot of miles on it and you have many a road trip tale to take with you in your memories, I say that road of life was a pretty good one.
Buckle up and enjoy your ride.
~Queena Verbosity~
© 2009 Queena Verbosity 100% Real Words
Media Monster Communications, Inc.
Stacey Kumagai
http://www.100percentrealwords.blogspot.com
http://hubpages.com/profile/mediamonster
http://www.braingasm.com
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