Walking without Seeing the Road

Sometimes it’s difficult to be motivated when we don’t know where we’re going. Here are a few ways to enjoying walking without seeing the road.

Rainstorm to Beat all Rainstorms

When I was in college, I took a trip from Cleveland, Tennessee to Little Rock, Arkansas. I traveled with a friend to visit my girlfriend at the time. It was a ten-hour trip, but young love has a way of making the trip seem effortless.

That is until we headed home.

On the way back the rain started pouring. It was as if God was wringing out all of his laundry on one strip of highway. The pounding on the roof was thunderous, and, although the windshield wipers were at mach 8, they seemed to have no effect.

No Choice but to Continue

At one point we considered pulling onto the shoulder until the rain subsided. We quickly crossed that option off the list as we saw a car veer onto the shoulder to avoid the unexpected traffic only to slam into a row of parked cars.

The fact that you’re reading this means you probably know that I made it home safely and am not a specter from the afterlife. Even though I made it, that doesn’t mean the trip was easy or comfortable. It was frightening, but my only choice was to continue. On a positive note it helped me shed some light on my own life, particularly when I find myself walking without seeing the road.

The Fight for Control

The fact is we love control. We love to know that we’re in charge even though we’re not. We freak out about terrorist attacks and tampered vape pens even though statistically speaking our chances of dying by what we do to ourselves is much, much higher than anything anyone else could do to us. That’s because it’s not about safety. It’s about control.

We are not always in control. We are not always in charge of how things play out. But we are in charge of our decisions. This is why when things are unclear, we need to keep walking without seeing the road. We need to keep making progress. We need to keep moving forward.

It’s not easy. It’s scary. Standing still, however, is not an option, and progress is always progress even when it doesn’t seem like it.

We may freak out about walking without seeing the road, but it’s a more rewarding and exciting experience than we may realize. It’s worth it even if we don’t yet know where the road leads.