The Trip that is Life

Just for fun...anyone know where this image was taken?

As I was driving to spend
some time away from home I
started to think that the
trip was a good metaphor
for life in a few ways

1. I went through a tunnel, over
bridges, around curves.

2. I paid a multitude of tolls

3. I used my car and gas

4. I didn't have my computer
with me and had to depend on
another's computer, which had
different programs and platform
than what I am used to.

While these may seem like simple,
basic, and obvious things, it got
me thinking that in many ways it
is very much like life.

Where we start is often not as
comfortable as where we end.

The journey through life will
take us under and through and
over the many events and emotions
in our lives.

Sometimes we will pay with our
energy (gas) and sometimes we
will have to pay extra (in terms
of things like time) to get to
where we want to go.

We use our "car," - our body
to get where we are going.
Like a car, there are several
settings our body has, some
more comfortable and some more
adjustable than others.

The journey is sometimes taken
alone, but when we get to where
we are going, there will be
people there who are ready for
our arrival. They may have been
able to meet us part way, but
perhaps the reason we're going
is to be where they are, and
nothing short of the end
destination will be satisfactory.

Sometimes when we get to where
we are going, there is an
unfamiliar environment, and yet
we may be able to call on the
familiar. There was a time
my friend was trying to figure
something out with his computer,
and I was able to help him, not
because I knew how, exactly, but
because I was able to call on
something familiar in my past
experience. The same thing
happened when I was trying to
figure something out for
myself.

It wasn't perfect, and if I
needed to have something more
for the long haul, there would
be a bigger curve to round to
make the things i wanted to
have happen, happen.

It would, of course, then be
up to me to settle without,
or find a way to make it
happen. At the time, I
settled, as I didn't want to
expend that much "gas" driving
around in an unfamiliar place,
potentially in circles.

Sometimes it could be worth it,
but it is all about choice.
At another time, in another
place, it might just have
been worth it.

When I return, while things
may be familiar, they aren't
the same because I am not
the same. I have journeyed
outside of myself and have
come back with perspective
and experiences that were
out of my range from where
I started.

There may be an immediate
comfort upon returning home,
to the familiar, but there
may also be something that
now says, "a change is
necessary." The familiar
may have ceased to be
comfortable any more.

That actually happened to
me last year. I had visited
a friend at length, and when
I went home, I was no longer
happy to be there. It was
the beginning of the end.

Now that the end of that
time has come and gone, I
am finding uncovering and
discovering new comfort
zones, and deciding what
comes next.

In familiar territory, there
are inherent limitations.
In unfamiliar territory, there
are costs. In the familiar
can come security, in the
unfamiliar there can be reward.

Life is always, ever, evolving,
and it is what we choose to do
with it that will have us
feeling good or about what
we are exposed to.

It really does come down to
the choices we make. Some
more uncomfortable than others,
and also potentially more
rewarding, as well.

While I didn't have any
detours to take, life can
sometimes be like that.
We think we know where
we are going, only to
be seemingly derailed.

Sometimes we may feel like
we aren't making the choice,
because the only choice we
have at the moment isn't of
our own design. Sometimes
life is like that - it seems
to have a mind of its own.

However, if you pay attention,
you might just find an
unanticipated pleasure as
a result...something you
would have missed, had you
stayed on the road you intended.
You may have thought you knew
how best to find what you wanted,
but you may have just found
what you needed, instead.

Life certainly can be a trip,
can't it?

What are your life's travel plans?
Do they include me? My exits are
clearly labelled, and even if
there is construction, the detour
and effort will most certainly
be worth it: caves, waterfalls,
rides, pleasures yet to be
experienced await you, and
unexpected delights of all kinds

See you soon. :)

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