When I need directions to get somewhere, I pull out my phone and type in an address and my little friend starts talking to me and telling me how to get out of my garage! It’s fabulous! Better than that, I can plug it in and the map and directions magically appear on a screen and I AM SET! I love modern technology! However, I seriously also love the fact that when my husband and I go on a trip he gets out his map/atlas and studies it. He writes down important places to stop and about how far one place is from another and what country road we can take to avoid the highways. He likes the country views and it really makes me smile. He is old school and he always plans trips just perfectly! I wouldn’t change a thing.
The beginning of a road trip is great! We listen to the best music, stop and get our favorite junk food and then after a while it usually happens….. we see the “ROAD WORK AHEAD” sign Bummer! As we approach, we see the orange cones or lights and then another sign “right lane closed ~ merge left.” Do we even have a choice? Our moods can quickly sour.
Life is soooo like this! Things are going along perfectly - listening to music, eating junk food and then BOOM - we see some signs up ahead that might throw a kink into our journey. “What if I don’t want to Merge! I don’t like those people or that job! Yield - NO! I want to go first and not let others get there before me. It’s MY turn! Things were going just fine and at the perfect pace for me to…..” then the Slow Down sign pops up! Ugh! Well, what if those signs are in your life for a reason? What if you are not ready for something - let others go and learn from them. YIELD!
So many times there are Detours along our journeys that we don’t plan for. Maybe our life’s itineraries are not going in the directions we planned. We don’t want to make a U -Turn and go back to a place we’ve been before. However, we might not realize that going back will save us from an upcoming danger we didn’t plan on. We sometimes get so distracted we don’t see the Road Ends or Private Road signs until it is too late and then we get stuck.
I think people sometimes get so busy staying the course in their lives that they forget about the Rest Areas and forget to take a break and recharge. We are obsessed with getting places first, that we don’t see the No Passing warnings and speed ahead when we aren’t ready yet. Not abiding by these signs can get us hurt in so many ways. There are reasons these signs show up on our trips - mainly for our own safety. When did we become a society that just blows off important life warnings? We need to refocus and not look at the inconveniences of road signs but see them as warnings or plans for future improvements.
Life hands us each our own map and the directions we take to get to places along our journey can change. That’s ok! So let’s slow down and enjoy the scenery on our trip and pull over now and again to get out and stretch. Let’s play the A, B, C license plate game with our kids (even if they are grown) while we can still read the license plates! Let’s roll the windows down and turn up the music and sing… SING REAL LOUD and if we get caught in Construction Ahead and have to stop, let’s invite some other cars to sing with us! I dare ya!
What road signs have appeared in your life? What do you think they mean? Are you so worried about the destination that you aren’t enjoying the ride? Take some time this week to slow down and look for amazing things happening on your journey that you seem to overlook because of the “construction” in your life. Remember, anything “Under Construction” is becoming better or new!