In The Driver's Seat
As it came closer to the New Year I was hearing lots as usual about New Year Resolutions. I have been down this road before, creating lists for my resolutions then never following through. I even tried choosing a word for the year, only to forget about it a few weeks later.
This year I decided to do neither, planning to put up my feet on New Year’s Day and just to relax, no plans and no expectations.
So after sleeping in, I fed my cats, poured a coffee, grabbed a blanket then plopped down in front of the TV. Much to my pleasure there was a marathon of the Fast & Furious movies – yes I am a fan!
It’s funny how I have watched all these movies before and never noticed there are some very powerful lines and before long I was writing some of them down. Though I had not planned for great revelations in my day of relaxation I did discover an epiphany, an insight that spoke directly into my life.
In the movie, The Fast and The Furious, there is a scene where Paul Walker’s character Brian O’Conner who is an undercover cop shows up to a street race looking for a street racer that he is investigating. Edwin, a regular on the circuit comes up to Brian and asks “This yours?” as he refers to the car by Brian. Brian says “Yeah, I am standing next to it.” In Edwin’s response he comes back with, “It’s not how you stand by your car; it is how you race your car”.
“It’s not how you stand by your car; it is how you race your car”.
This was a moment of deep insight for me …. Isn’t how we live our lives much like this statement? Are we just hanging out for show or are we really LIVING our life?
A race car driver jumps into the driver’s seat, buckles in, focuses on preparing for the race, hits the gas petal on “Go” and looks ahead to the finish line.
Do we do that that when it comes to our lives?
Are we in the driver’s seat or are we standing by the sidelines watching life pass us by?
Do we know what brings joy, passion, inspiration and happiness in our lives?
Can we imagine what our day looks like when we are sitting in the driver’s seat? What would we do that is the same as we are doing now? What would we do differently?
Take some time to ponder how you would answer these questions. Give yourself affirmation for what you do now that brings you joy and inspiration. Encourage yourself to open up to new ideas and thoughts as you see what you would do differently. Use what you learn in your self-exploration to create goals to work on. These are different than creating New Year resolutions or creating a word to live by; these are specific to getting you into the driver’s seat of your life.
I am right here with you, looking into my own life. I am asking these same questions and seeking to discover the answers, to find the direction my life is meant to take moving forward.
Let’s make this year the one where we get into the driver’s seat of our lives!
