Back the truck up!

Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast — you also miss the sense of where you are going and why. ~ Eddie Cantor

As I was blocking out my coming week on the calendar this morning, I was thinking of all of the "Have to's" and all of the "Want to's" and once they are all charted on the calendar I went back to find some time for myself, and it was looking pretty sparse. Determined to find some pockets of time to "affix my own oxygen mask" I found a lot of time wasted, time not used effectively, so I began to re-engineer my week.

Think of it this way....if you are going on a road trip and you are packing your car, what are you choosing take? What things aren't going to help me get where I am going? What are the things you can't leave home without? Now it wouldn't make sense to try to pack the entire contents of your home into the car, if you did that, you will arrive with a number of problems...

1. You can't see out the windows. How will you enjoy the scenery if you can't see out the windows?

2. You won't be comfortable. If you don't have room to move and stretch, to lean back and relax, even a short trip can be uncomfortable.

3. You can't use your strengths. If you have moved your seat as close to the steering wheel as possible, so that you can accommodate some more "stuff" in the back seat, you lose the leverage in your arms, to steer and brace yourself in an accident. If the steering wheel is only inches from your chest to begin with, it will take your arms considerably more strength to hold yourself from colliding with the wheel, and the windshield.

4. You don't have room for others. What if you come along an old friend, or someone you would like to be a new one, if you haven't left room in your car for them, how do you welcome them into your life? Now I am not suggesting you pick up every hitch hiker you see, but make some room for little opportunities that might come along. The people you take with you are the things that are going to make your the happiest, make room for them.

5. You won't be able to find the map. How will you know where you are going, if the map is buried under the seat somewhere? Sure, you can always stop and pick up another one, but why, if you already have it in your life and it is perfectly fine, then why waster your time and money in search of another one? And if you fine with flying by the seat of your pants, then great, but how will you know if you have reached your destination? And will you be able to find your way home? With a map, or an itinerary, you will be able to pick out those roadside attractions you want to see, as well as the big monuments, big attractions that you want to be sure not to miss.

6. You can't let the wind blow through your hair. If you have your vehicle packed so full of stuff, you won't be able to roll down the windows and just feel the wind in your face, blowing through you hair. You can't stretch your hand out the window and feel the wind passing by, drawing your hand in different direction. Dear old Rex can't hang its head out the window and breath. If you drive a convertible and can't ever put the top down, then what is the use?

So, you obviously wouldn't pack the car to the roof if you are going on a trip, so what are your options? Well, you can get a bigger car, or you can quit trying to cram so much in. Sure a bigger car might be nice, but you can't really get more hours in your day, everyone's car is the same size in the end. When our life is over our destination is essentially the same. At the end of our trip, will you have experienced all you can, really soaked it in, or were you too busy rearranging and searching for things in your car? Tripping over the garbage?

So this morning as you are looking at the trip you have ahead of you, think about what you are packing into the car? Maybe leave the kitchen sink at home, they will probably have one of those where you are going.