I recently considered the possibility that life is a lot like driving a car with GPS.
Not everyone drives the same car. Not everyone has the same destination. We certainly all have our own “styles” of driving. Some people drive aggressively while others are more cautious. Some people are in a hurry to get somewhere, anywhere and others appear more capable of finding enjoyment in the little twists and turns. And the number of various driving styles is dwarfed by the multitude of ways people customize and maintain their cars. There are those who obsessively maintain their cars to preserve them in pristine condition as well as those who fill their vehicles with years of refuse and trash. Some of us are able to interpret every sound and vibration our car produces as if it were speaking a language we can understand while others will ignore a dash full of alerts and alarms. There’s loud music, soft music, no music. All sorts of items stuck behind the sunshade or dangling from the rear view mirror. There may even be a dash covered in yellow rubber ducks. And in the background of it all our GPS tries to guide us.
The kicker is though, that on this drive called life, when we get into our cars no-one tells us what the destination is. Also, our GPS screen is broken and blank. And that little voice that prompts us when to turn and alerts us to hazards ahead is turned way down low. It is quite possible to get so distracted by everything else that we have going on in the car that we completely miss the instructions altogether.
Now sometimes that turns out to be a good thing, and we find ourselves on a scenic road off the beaten path that affords us an unexpected journey that is every bit worthwhile. In the background of our fortuitous detour our GPS gently redirects us toward our destination. It’s also entirely possible that we turned down a road with lots of potholes and missing street signs that makes the drive that much more of a challenge. And other times that missed turn truly leads to a dead end. Unfortunately, we don’t get to determine from the outset what our destination is and how quickly we arrive. It’s all too easy to become absorbed in all the “stuff” going on in our car and forget that the car and the “stuff” isn’t the reason we started driving somewhere in the first place. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t turn on your favorite music or heat up your seat warmer to get more comfortable; just perhaps every once in a while allow yourself to listen for that quiet voice guiding you on your next turn. Eventually you might even gain an intuition as to where you are going; or at a minimum learn to enjoy the drive.