Monday, January 2, 2012

Speed Limits

"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why." - Eddie Cantor

Have you noticed how nobody drives the speed limit? Around here, we've been told that you can drive up to 6 miles over the limit without getting a fine. What's the purpose of having the limits then?

While I was driving yesterday, it hit me that I'm officially a speed limit. As we get older, we hit higher speed limits in age. Yet, as I'm getting older, I'm slowing down more and not just in my driving (especially after my only ticket years ago with 4 points on my license...UGH!).

As a single, I see why marrieds and parents are moving faster, but why are singles too? Are we too caught up in the little things that we forget to see the bigger picture?  I know it's not forever. Nothing really is in this world. It's constantly changing.

People in our generation constantly drive their lives at the speed limit or over the limit so much that it seems to have become a norm. Fast, faster, fastest...it's not going to all get done, but we keep trying to do more, more, more. All I see it doing it making us less aware of others and less willing to do things with others.

I think sometimes, people see you going so fast, that they stop trying to even make contact. Ask a single. We're not as busy as you think. I think some singles fill their lives with stuff just to keep away from the fact that nobody's asking us out (and I'm not just talking love interests). I'd rather be a third or fifth wheel than going somewhere alone. In 2011, I finally FORCED myself to begin eating in restaurants alone. It's not easy, but sometimes, there are blessings including the time some "pew ladies" invited me to join them at their table. It was fun and eased that weirdness. It never would have happened if I hadn't gone there alone.

I guess God has plans for me as a single too. I know I'm blessed that I can just pick up and go somewhere. The challenge is finding blessings in the weirdness of being single.

My grandmother would sit in the passenger seat and read aloud all of the signs that she saw along the way. In my 20s, that would drive me nuts. I guess it's time to step back and drive a speed under the limit so I can glance out the window for more signs of blessings.


1 comment:

  1. Awesome post! I was reflecting on this very subject the other day. We are so much in a hurry that sometimes we miss the small things that should have caught our eye. Having kids, I rarely slowed down till now and they are in college! I am enjoying the "pick and go" aspect of this stage in my life. I am finding blessings in this new chapter.

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