When life gets tough......quit.

Have you ever been driving down the highway and had the thought:

"What if I just kept on driving?"

I had that thought the other morning and for the first time in my life it actually sounded like a good idea. Of course I would have to go pick up Joei, go get the dog and put her in a kennel, get gas, send off a couple hundred emails telling everyone that I would be gone, grab cash, plan for my hotel stops along the way, and of course get someone to mow the grass.... but boy I would love to just keep driving.

What if I disregarded all of those "important things" and just picked up my wife and left. Gone. Didn't turn around, didn't say goodbye, didn't put in my two weeks notice......and just left. The initial reaction is that life would be much easier. We wouldn't have all of life's daily stressors and we could just live simply and without angst. Maybe we would end up in Alaska and I could be a bush pilot while Joei could work at a local bank. We would live in a modest cabin and enjoy our evenings outdoors looking at the mountains.....it sounds nice doesn't it? Solitude and silence would become our friends and life would slow down for a little while. I would be happy.

Or would I?

There is a two fold problem with all of this dreaming. The first question is why would I keep on driving? Do I feel as if I have accomplished all that I have been put on this earth to do and therefore I have the desire to relax and bast in the ideal of a job well-done?.......or........Am I running scared and trying to escape and leave behind the pressure and sorrow that life sometimes can become?

I hate to say it.....but I would be escaping......

It is a natural human desire to want to take the easy way out. When life gets tough.....quit. Just quit. Rather than come out fighting.....just take a seat, take your punches and go home. That might be the easy way but is that the right way? Look around and see those who are moving through life with you. The person who is bound to a wheelchair and yet is determined to get through each day with their head held high. The mother who has lost her husband and is raising five kids on her own and does it with a smile. The child who has gone through a divorce and spends their holidays on an airplane travelling to see their mom or dad. The person who is reading this blog and wants nothing more than life to get a little better.....just a little....and yet will get up from their computer and head out into the world hiding the pain that lies secretly inside of them.

We all want to just keep driving at some point in our lives, but no matter how far you drive....Life is still there....your permanent backseat driver.

Just quit?

No....

JUST LIVE.