It feels like all roads are pretty empty right now during this pandemic. Some roads are just completely blocked. I’m not just talking about travel, which I’m still deeply mourning for right now (I just canceled all my summer bucket list trips due to the current travel restrictions), but also the roads on our life journey. I know many people who have lost their jobs. Others who were planning to change jobs are stuck with no opportunities to interview with other companies right now. Parents are forced to take on the additional job of educators for their children. It’s like we are all stuck on a highway detour with limited exits and the road in front of us appears to be crumbling. But maybe if we turn on our internal “Google Maps” it can navigate us out of this mess.
Once when driving back from Florida my Google Maps alert went off and asked if I wanted to avoid a 2 hr delay going through Atlanta by taking another route. Was that even something I would consider saying no to? Apparently, there had been multiple wrecks on the highway and the bypass around Atlanta and the delays were crazy. I ended up hearing a lady at the hotel that night say she was stuck in traffic over 4hrs!! Thankfully our delay had only been about two hours because we followed Google Maps on one of the craziest, out of the way, tiny back road paths I have ever seen. I was sure I was making a mistake as I went in and out of small towns and turns up and down rural roads. I was doubting my choice to follow the new route the whole time. Why had I trusted an app? Should I just try to navigate back to the highway that I know? Honestly, driving through the outskirts of Atlanta during a gorgeous spring day while all the trees and flowers were blooming was fairly enjoyable, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could have if I had just trusted the journey. Obviously, I eventually made it back to the highway and avoided all of the accidents. It wasn’t until I overheard the lady at the hotel speaking that I knew I had made the right decision.
Do we have an internal Google Maps app inside of us that can guide us on our journey through life? What if it’s telling you to follow some route you had never considered? Would you trust it and follow that intuition? It’s far easier to fall into the mass consciousness of society and feel trapped and limited and focus on the negative that you hear in all the news stories. Taking the path less traveled and using this time to tune in and listen to where you should go next is difficult. I feel like my Google Maps is currently showing me like 5 new routes to take, and I’m afraid to pick one in case it’s not the “best” path. Maybe they all lead to the same place. Maybe some will take me on a more enjoyable journey but get me to my destination at a later time. I have been getting over into the exit lane to try and peer down the road as far as I can by researching some new ideas in my free time. I haven’t committed to exiting yet though.
I was ready to take one of the exits last night and at the last second didn’t have the courage to commit to it and got back on the highway of doubt. As one who doesn’t do well at embracing change, I decided to stay the course for now until I have a clear exit plan. There are always more exits and routes to take. I have to trust that when the right one comes along that I’ll be so excited that I won’t hesitate to make that commitment. At least, for now, I don’t feel like I’m stuck on that highway where life was just flying by and I didn’t have time to even stop and look at the signs, and for that I am grateful. Now is the perfect time to stop and listen to what your internal Google Maps is telling you. Embrace the slower pace of life. Look for the signs, peer down a new road. You never know what you might find along the road less traveled.
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