Good Morning Ladies and Gents! I hope you all enjoyed Christmas and any other Holidays during the past week. By now, I am most likely attempting to slow down a bit to enjoy time with family and friends, but do not worry I’m still hard at work behind the scenes. For now, I bring you a new, more introspective article for this week. It’s been a while since I’ve done on of these type of articles. Luckily, I had a philosophical epiphany, like many before this, on one of my earlier drives through the lush green pines and snowy mountain tops of Northern Arizona. So without further delay I bring you something we can all ponder on, Why Is Life Like A Highway?!
Pretty simple right? Or maybe too simple that I lost some of you. Well, don’t worry, you will soon understand my reference on, Why Is Life Like A Highway?!
Interestingly enough, this epiphany came to me while enjoying a leisurely drive through Northern Arizona. My goal for this extended holiday week was to improve my photography skills from dismal to subpar by getting out into the natural environment. As many of you may know from previous articles or our Instagram, I am an avid American Muscle Car fan. My favorite clearly being the Dodge Challenger. Fortunately for me, I just so happen to have that very car with the added bonus of it being faster than 90% of the cars you see on the road.
Although meant for speed, I just so happen to be one of the few Muscle Car owners that loves to cruise slowly haha. This Black Sheep has some gray hairs coming in haha.
Anyways, back to the story. I was on my way to Northern Arizona when I so happened to have a streak of luck. What kind of luck you may ask? Well, how about an hours worth of bad luck. To be more precise, I sat at a standstill for over an hour while trying to go uphill. An accident had occurred which resulted in someones life hanging on by a thread. Unbeknownst to me of the situation at hand, all I knew was that I was sitting in traffic while having the need to pee for over an hour. Fortunately, some of the biggest headaches can give rise to some deep, mind boggling thoughts that we never knew existed.
Well, low and behold, I bring to you a new perspective on the human condition. I bring you, Why Is Life Like A Highway?!
So, there I was, sitting angrily in my car, muttering and cursing under my breath. Frustration was well above normal standards. Annoyance turned to anger which then turned into a deathly silent, thousand yard stare. My back was burning and infuriated with pain from the prolonged sitting. Heated seats turned to cold seats and my car does what all fast cars do, they guzzle gas by the quarter mile and feel no remorse for it. After several minutes of this, I realized that I was defeating myself. So, I relaxed like the heavy snow falling off the mountain side.
It wasn’t long before my thoughts started to wander. From this self defeat turned silent, rose something interesting to say the least.
I had annoyingly stumbled unto a new perspective. Like many things in life, sometimes we are required to not only experience something time and time again before fully grasping a concept never before been made aware to us. So there I was, by this time slowly creeping inch by inch to the nearest exit, when all the pieces started to fall into place.
So, what did I come to understand? Well by now your either curious or are starting to realize how simple minded I can be at times haha. Trust me, I know.
But enough beating around the bush, let me tell you what I learned. First, let me get the obvious out of the way. By now, as we all know, we begin our lives at birth and end at death. We also know that whether our lives are long or short there will be peaks and valleys of good and bad times. These vary at times, they vary in length and impact. Lastly, we know that throughout our lives we are experiencing, learning, growing…etc.
Now, here’s the kicker.
Everything I said up above has been said before or you may have heard of it elsewhere. Hell, there’s probably several songs, poems, movies, or books written about this very concept. Of that I don’t doubt, but what if I told you they missed something. Like say, they forgot to finish the song. What if I told you they forgot to write the rest of the essay or paint the rest of the picture. Clearly, if everything was a simple as saying there’s a Point A and Point B and everything in between is called life then aren’t we missing something?! What if the very thing we were missing was the most obvious of all?
Fortunately, I was reminded of my work I did with a local non profit. At the time, by societal and cultural standards I was considered to come from “humble” beginnings. Being born into the lower end of the totem pole gave me the best gift anyone can ask for: Life!
Well if I came from humble beginnings than the people I was trying to help were pretty much all considered saints and monks by those standards.
During this short flashback I realized that although life is nothing, but a Point A and Point B, as “they” say, we forget the some of our point A’s may have a commanding lead to other people’s point A. I mean in this time of giving and selflessness what better thing than to be reminded of how lucky we are. But this is not the point I’m after. Trust me, this epiphany was way longer than expected. Now that we understand this, let me also remind you that some of our point B’s may be shorter than others as well. Back to my previous point, thank your lucky stars we live to fight another day.
However, where we fail to understand and fully realize ourselves is what occurs between these two destinations.
As a matter of fact, each and every one of our lives differs from one another. Like a Highway, from our starting point to ending point, some of us just coast throughout our lives on a flat, nicely paved, highway. While others will have to go through steep, slippery slopes in a car that may be missing a vital component to maneuver correctly. Some of us may encounter obstacles like traffic, we can be stuck there for a minute, hour or a day, or even a year, but eventually if you stay the course you will move.
Likewise, we may make mistakes, inadvertently hurt others due to our shortcomings. We may selfishly cut someone off from their own destination or fail to follow certain rules (values). Maybe, we drive under the influence, influence being anything likes drugs or influence of friends and culture. We may choose to redirect ourselves on another path as a way of mitigating these traffic obstacles which may or may not work to reach our end goal.
Some of you may stall or peak, while other may sit and rest in the garage until their destination Point B is reached if you catch my drift.
Unlike some who were born aka built from one of the luxury brands like Cadillac or Lexus, you may be a VW Bug with the potential to speed past these thoroughbreds and climb any mountain at top speeds. The answer will lie in your perseverance and ability to grow/build your vehicle aka yourself. Like our cars, we need rest, maintenance and tune ups to continue to push past our limits. Much like the highway, sometimes we play stop and go with relationships or speed on through to our goals with nothing stopping us. We may fail to reach the summit at times, or our happiness is short lived much like a sudden drop in a hill that makes the butterflies in our stomachs flutter for a split second. For some, our roads are unpaved, lacking any signs, with our gas tanks nearing empty, never fully realizing our goal unless we keep pushing forward by adapting to our terrain.
As you may have gathered, throughout this metaphorically heavy article, the point of this article is that each and every one of our lives is different.
We all have different start points and end points. Very much like others around the world, we have our goals, aspirations, and limitations. Like our friends, family or complete strangers, we encounter obstacles along the way. They may last longer than others or shorter, but they are all there. Unfortunately, some of us have fewer happy moments than others. Like a Highway, we encounter traffic, construction zones, walls, reckless or hurtful drivers.
Furthermore, we encounter failures and moments of exhilaration when traversing up and down our hills and valleys. We may overwork or overheat ourselves simply trying to go up. Some of our ups may last longer than others, but the same can be said about our downs.
With that, I leave you with my last piece of advise: be mindful, aware, and grateful of your highway and keep pushing forwards.
Redirect and rest at times or simply fill up the tank when your getting low, but never fully stop. Why Is Life Like A Highway?! , we drive and drive and drive, sometimes with no goal or destination in mind, but the point is we keep moving forward until we find that answer. I hope you all enjoyed my perspective for this week. I’m always up for deep conversations or thoughts so comment below and let me hear what you have to say!
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