Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Derailed

I think every little boy has a small fascination with trains.  it is wired in us.  More than playing with trains though, we like to make trains crash.  We all play out that age old scenarion where a train is coming and some how it derails and wipes out every thing in its path.  The problem is a lot of us keep this mentality into adulthood.  Most train derailments are caused by going to fast.  They know they are not supposed to go that fast in certain areas and they push it as much as they can until they push it a little to hard and they get off the tracks and wreck everything in their path.  As adults, we do the same thing.  We work (or whatever it is you do) at breakneck speeds and then we wonder why we wreck.  We get depressed, have poor attitudes, get physically sick, and even hurt the people we love the most at times.  The problem is we are in a culture where this is worn as a badge of honor.  I hear people all the time say, "O, worked 90 hours this week, etc" and they say that like I should give them a standing ovation.  To be honest I have done the exact same thing.  The rub is, society is not always right.  Will it mean less money, possibly.  Could it mean you don't "advance" as fast as you hoped?  What good is advancing if you are sick and your family can't stand you?  My caution, for you and myself, is slow down.  Don't get me wrong, there are times where you can open up the throttle and go fast.  In my job there are certain seasons where I am way busier.  The trick is during the seasons where you aren't as busy, don't make yourself go faster just for the sake of going faster.  Find something you enjoy doing.  Walking, golfing, painting, music, watching movies and do them.  Spend extra time with your family during these times.  Don't derail.  SLOW DOWN!