"Straight roads do not make skillful drivers." - Paulo Coelho

Ever have one of those days where you just don’t know anything?  You feel like you are just going through the motions and nothing seems to spark your interest?  You are damned if you do, damned if you don’t?  Nothing seems to go your way?  No matter how hard you try, you can’t get your shit together.  Well, it seems as if I’m having one of those days, weeks, months or even years!  I wish I was a ray of sunshine, one of those folks who smile when everything is dreadful.  The ones that believe everything is rainbows and lollipops and say things like, “things happen for a reason,” with a beaming glow of their pearly whites.  Well, that’s not me, never has been and probably never will be.  I know what you are thinking, why does this person write a positivity blog?  I ask myself that almost daily.  I’m undoubtedly more suited for writing sarcastic rants or inappropriate opinions but I have selected to write about inspiration and positivity.  I must like the challenge.  The truth is, I’m not writing this for you, the reader; I write for me.  It’s a gentle reminder to me to examine my life contrarily and to try not to get caught up in all the mess the world is throwing at me.  While I’m undergoing this not so great day, week, month or even year, I figured I needed to put pen to paper or fingers to keys, as it were, to remind myself that life doesn’t go as planned and it’s going to be just fine.  Unquestionably someone out there feels the same way, and if not, it’s okeydokey with me; I am fond of standing alone.

When I sense nothing is going my way and I just need a time out, my preferred go to, is a good old fashioned car ride.  Nothing beats the open road, the radio blaring and my own ideas, in my head.  There is something about being in your own space, going wherever you want, as fast as you want and belting out the words to every bad 80s song, on the radio.  Seat dancing and steering wheel drums are an added bonus, in my realm!   A good quality ride centers me, reminds me that life isn’t so awful.  No matter if it is a hurried jaunt to the grocery store or a lengthy road trip across the country, a good drive is like therapy.  Recently I took a time out, as I call it.  I was able to get in the car and go, no reason what so ever, a break from routine, just to get away and be with my own thoughts. Of course, first class road trips are made when the sun is shining and the windows are down. 

Those days seem to be few and far between around here, so I did what makes me happy and drove straight to the beach, Virginia Beach, so I could open my car windows.   The smell of salt water in the air always makes things better.   I just wish I was driving a polished new Jaguar F type coupe.  A girl can dream, right?   My soccer mom mobile covered in salt and dirt was just as enjoyable nonetheless, and I have the speeding ticket to prove it.   Cha ching!   It’s true; it’s all in what you make of things.   Some might look at my experience as running away but my road trip, no matter how outlandish and unconventional, bought me back home.  My self-induced rehabilitation was a positive experience.  Everything isn’t perfect but I am a work in progress and it’s always good to take time to learn new things about yourself which I can say I did while hitting the open road.

A read a great quotation by Paulo Coelho, which said, "Straight roads do not make skillful drivers."   Everyone will be thrown curves in life, some are insignificant little turns that are effortless to navigate and others are more like a switchback, making it very important to not take your eyes off the lane so you can figure out what’s around the bend.  Recently it seems as if I’m driving in a circle, like a NASCAR race, one continuous loop with no end in sight.  I know there is an open road just ahead; I need to tighten my grip on the wheel, turn up the music, take in the scenery, and lean into the hairpin turns. It’s the curves in our lives that put us on the road we are meant to travel.  Life is like one extended car ride.  We have to take detours, to get where we are meant to go.  There continuously seems to be construction that slows us down.  Traffic sometimes brings us to a complete stop and we wait and wait.   We go through lots of stormy weather.  

Sometimes you drive your van right into a three foot hole and get your wheel stuck and the frame of your van is touching the ground, but I digress (this happened to me a few days ago, but that’s a story for a different day).  We get cut off.  We have to pay tolls and we aren’t sure why.   We don’t know where we are at all times and sometimes we take the wrong exit but eventually we have to figure out how to get back on the highway.  We have accidents and there is always, and I mean always, that driver in the left lane with their blinker on that we want ram our car into.  Some days we are mudding in a truck through rough terrain, others we are stacking kids to the ceiling for a car pool and there are French fries all other our floor but some times we have the top down on our convertible with the wind in our hair.   This is what makes life interesting.

I’m not sure if it is the freedom the open road provides, the never ending visual stimulation or being alone with your own thoughts.  Whatever it is, it works for me.  I love being alone, there is something about not having to explain anything to anyone that appeals to me and knowing you are the only one in control.  You can either swerve to miss the pot holes or drive straight into them, it’s your choice.  A decent car ride has a certain therapeutic power that nothing else can provide.  It frees your mind, body and soul all at the same time.  If our lives were one immense straight away, we would never have to learn to navigate the rough terrain, the forks and the turns, which would never make us skilled human beings.  Where’s the fun in that?  If you find yourself at a curve and you can’t seem to figure out what’s on the other side, sit back, steer into the turn and never take your eyes off the street, you will get to the other side.  When you do, you might even find out it’s where you were meant to be.   When the thoroughfare you are traveling on is leading you to a cliff, remember you can steer away from it or drive straight off the damn thing, it’s your choice.  If the highway you are on seems like it will never end and it isn’t taking you where you need to go, take the next side road and see where that takes you, it might not be where you thought you were supposed to go but you may end up surprised how nice the scenery is.

We are programed to get in the car to go from point A to point B but I deem the greatest parts might be in between.  Turn off the GPS and just drive, for no reason and with no destination; get lost, in order to find where you belong.  If we would all just learn to slow down, take a few corners we weren’t expecting and enjoy the trip, we might be surprised by what we stumble upon.  Next time you have problems, get in the car and drive until you find the answers you are looking for.  Or do it for no reason at all, with no destination, just to take in the landscape, turn up the tunes and be with your thoughts.  Always bear in mind there are no shortcuts to any destination worth going, we have to take the long and winding road, in order to value the destination.  Life is meant to be lived.  Get out there and do donuts.  I’m sick of being a passenger in my own ride, it’s time to drive fast and take chances!   When navigating your road of life, you can take the wheel and steer yourself in whatever direction you wish or you can sit in the passenger seat and let the drive just happen to you.  It’s up to you.   Make your ride beautiful.