Driver Fatigue

On the road of life, the journey is the point.

We all start and end in the same places. It is what we do with the time in between the start and finish that makes all the difference. What you use your journey for is what makes the difference.

Using your journey to eek ahead every little so you reach a stoplight before everyone else will put you in the lead of a bunch of people who are not happy with you.

Using your drive to drive as far as you can as fast as you can will only leave you tired and fatigued. Your driving will get worse as time goes on and you will make stupid mistakes you never would have made if you were getting enough rest.

Using your journey to make space for others to merge and lane change as needed, helps you make friends and makes you a hero to someone in their moment of need.

How will you use your journey? Who are the people you have made friends with? Who are the people you have maybe edged out and are not happy with you? What can you do to make friends moving forward? What can you do to help other people as they journey along? Who can help you make wise decisions on your journey?

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Keep On Trucking

Long haul truckers have a special place in my heart.

My grandparents were, for as best as I can remember, long haul truckers my whole life till they started winding down to retire. They bustled all over the US trucking around hooking up loads, hauling them to who knows where, dropping them off, and grabbing a new load locally and doing it all over again.

They were pretty good at what they did and it meant a couple times a summer they would visit us for a weekend or a couple days or a weekend when they had a load that needed to come our direction.

I loved seeing my grandparents.

I so appreciate the many long hours and millions, maybe even a billion, miles they put on their truck bouncing all over the US. Mile after mile, load after load, they dutifully delivered their haul.

Much like any project, they started the load with a full tank of gas and a clear destination. And just the same, the more they worked the gas ran down. They had to stop and refill their tanks. It was not sexy or awesome, but they had to do it to keep going.

They paid attention to the maintenance their trucks needed. Kept food in the truck’s fridge. They kept going and took care of whatever it was that needed done as they went.

They did not get the load on the road and then walk away when the trip was longer than they expected because of bad weather.

They did not give up because they hit traffic and were slowed to a crawl because...rush hour.

They kept going despite being rerouted due to construction.

How are you doing with your life’s goals? Are you still moving forward despite the bad weather you have run into? What about the part of life that is incredibly slow? Are you sticking with it, knowing that it will pick up soon? How are you doing with the parts of life being unexpectedly rerouted? Are you keeping to the new course, knowing it eventually leads back to the road you were on?

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Don't Stop Believing

I listen to a lot of podcasts about self improvement, self growth, and general social psychology/anthropology. For better or for worse, I listen to it all and have about 3 months worth of backlog I’ve been plowing through (Pokémon Go and PokéWalks have been a huge help.) But most recently I have been noticing a lot of conversations on my podcasts about getting to this goal or that goal or this point or that point and the necessity of getting a certain status/position.

Status and position is wonderful and useful. We need a certain amount of both to pay our bills. We need this position at a company to make enough money to eat, have a home, and occasionally take a vacation. We need this amount of status in order to be taken seriously within a community of people who we support and support us. We need a little bit of both.

However, neither one is the point. The point is the perpetual process of growing and learning. Even when I get to the goal or status or position. I am not done. I am only turning the corner on this leg of the journey. Getting a new job, getting married, having a kid, and graduating college are all turning points in life, not destinations. New cars, houses, couches, boats, lakefront property, are all amenities, not last stops. In life, there are no destinations. There are only turning points, roadside diners, and rest areas.

My journey is not over because I reach a certain point. My journey is turning a corner and preparing me for what comes next. Part of achieving a certain goal is the assumption of liability of what the next leg of the journey carries and assessing the responsibilities of a certain status or position before I set or achieve the next goal.

What goals are you working towards? What problems do you expect these goals to mitigate? What are some of the drawbacks of a new position? What are some of the perks of a new status? What is your assessment rubric for what you really need and want in life?

Journeying,

–JT