Sidetracked
One day your right on track, speeding like a bullet train, toward your destination. Then something catches your eye, then some thought enters your mind, then some impulse occurs autonomically, and then, as fast as a hiccup, you are sidetracked, off course.
If you don’t take an immediate action, in no time at all, weeds can grow up around you and stymie your growth and progress.
Yesterday I missed out on writing my daily blog.
It was due to a scheduled, routine, screening at a doctor’s office. It was one of those procedures that stir up a little angst. Butt, everything came out all right. Hopefully, I won’t have to experience that again for another five years.
I relearned a life lesson as a result of yesterday’s diversion in my routine. I was ‘sidetracked’.
This blog today is my attempt to force-squeeze some words of significance out of myself and thereby right myself, on track again.
In thinking about the process that dislodged me from my focus, I identified a brief list of other circumstances that have had the same effect on me in my past. That list includes, but is not limited to: receiving a poor grade on a test in school; being rejected after asking a girl for a date; being elected class president in 8th Grade; returning from a memorable vacation; some dreams, more than others; being involved in an auto accident; playing a flawless game of scrabble against a high rated opponent.
These kind of events have, at times, stolen my breath away, turned my stomach, diverted my direction.
The lesson learned here is that the duration of the misdirection is totally in my control. Often, the confusion that accompanies these experiences makes us think that we are powerless, mere victims of some greater force. But the truth is, if we are still alive after the tsunami, we each have the power to ‘pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again.’
It is extremely dangerous to ‘give in’ to the event.
Some students who receive a poor grade then evaluate themselves as incapable, and stop trying.
Some people who have auto accidents become timid drivers, none the better for it.
Some winning scrabble players become overconfident and forsake their study regimens.
So today, I am choosing to get back on track, a bit wiser for having been sidetracked yesterday, recalling events from my past and using the lessons to make me and you more powerful in our own lives down the track.
All Aboard.