There are only two kinds of people on this planet of ours: Those who make their mark and those who just mark time. In looking back, I see so many missed opportunities, so many days-weeks-years? that I spent emotionally checked out and not living deliberately. If it came to any good at all, I'd regret that choice and ask for a do-over.
Who is behind the wheel in your life? Are you driving or sitting in the passenger seat? Why?
I think we get overhwhelmed sometimes with all the demands of life. It is so easy to be passive--to let your life happen to you instead of being the agent of change in your own life.
I see it all the time in people all around me. People who seem to have one calamity happen to them after another. They think they are cursed. I think differently. I think that as long as they are caught up in these little dramas they never have to dig too deep or look too hard or do any real work to fix the big stuff. I think they attract that drama and create their own problems just to have something that takes their energy, focus, and resources. And while bad things can sometimes happen to good people, people who are constantly caught up in some disaster or another tend to be self-fulfilling prophets. They chew on their own little problems and create their own self-inflicted pain. It's easier than accountability, and there is a false sense of overcoming something which leads to a sort of false pride.
And lest you think I'm being judgmental here, I am too aware that every time you point a finger at someone, you have three of 'em coming right back at you.
In learning this lesson, this is all I have to say: I don't know that I have always been the driver in my own life, but I damn sure have no intention of EVER going back to being the passenger. Oh, and I fully intend to trade up--no more 1978 Pinto with the missing back bumper and bad paint job. I'm going for a Mercedes, baby--or maybe even one of those pretty new Camaros.... :) Have a blessed day.
And enjoy this relevant song--one of my personal favs....Incubus....Drive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgT9zGkiLig
Too true. If you're not in control of your destiny, who is? Simple question, so hard for many to answer.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ed. The most profound truths are often the simplest, no...and yet, er, not so much!
ReplyDeleteCheryl, I so agree with you on this. When I was going through some heavy drama, I had several little things happen. I remember vividly my microwave catching on fire. I was so happy that it caught on fire when I was home and using it. I considered it a blessing when several others saw it differently... as another bad thing. It would have been so easy to wallow in self-pity but I didn't want to become that person.
ReplyDeleteKaren, welcome to Signposts in Dreamland...
ReplyDeleteI want to congratulate you on your concious choice to not let your life's circumstances control you--rather, that you choose to find the positive spin on a negative situation.
Amazing what you can find when you go looking for it, eh?
I hope with sincerity that those dark days are behind you now--and if not, then I wish you both peace and strength as you do battle.