Need for Speed

I've been doing a lot of thinking about long-term goal setting this week. I have quite a bit done on a blog about my goal setting discoveries but, as has happened before, something else has come up and that blog will wait for another time.

It would seem that I have a long way to go in dealing with the concept of slowing down. Friday night, (when I was officially on vacation!), I got stopped for speeding. It was so stupid on my part; I wasn't late and there was no need to rush. I was pulled over in a town that's a gateway to a tourist destination on a section of highway where law enforcement can usually be found (and this guy wasn't even hiding!) and it was the beginning of a three day weekend. Happily for me, the officer was very polite and respectful and I was given a warning ticket. But what was I thinking?

I was thinking about getting to the front of the line, around the slower drivers unfamiliar with the area, around the vacationers just taking it all in, around the motor homes and big boats on trailers being towed by giant SUV's. This is a trip I make every Friday afternoon and I wasn't about to get held up in all the extra traffic even though I had given myself 15 extra minutes because I knew the roads would be busy. Because of my need for speed, 10 minutes of my extra 15 was used up sitting on the side of the road waiting for my ticket (and watching all the vehicles I had passed earlier now pass me up! And who of us doesn't laugh when we see someone pulled over who had blown by us just 5 minutes ago??)

How was the experience useful for future reference? How does this translate to daily life and become a learning experience? I have a phrase I use a lot from something I read by Tony Robbins: "What's good about this problem?"

I realize that this is more than just slowing down; it's about impatience, on wanting to get to my destination as soon as I can with nothing in my way to slow me down.

So here I am on this huge journey to a healthier life. If this commitment is for life, then the journey has to be about the journey itself, not the destination. Impatience really doesn't have a place in this new life. There will be times when I am forced to slow down when all I want is to be at the front of the line. Maybe this whole blog is about long-term goals after all.

It might be good to devote some time on a regular basis to thinking more like a vacationer. Take my time. Take the back roads. Savor the trip. PLAY.

And so and on this Labor Day, I'm off to play. Have a fun day and WATCH YOUR SPEED!