When I was learning to drive, so many years ago, my dad spent countless hours allowing me to practice. He took me up and down the road, across the bridge, through every side street in Fredericton. I remember him telling me, “If you ever get into a spin, look in the direction of where you want the car to go.”
It was only a few months later, on a black winter’s night driving down the steep road, freezing rain was pelting the window, I could barely see even a few feet in front of me, when I hit black ice. It was like the car was in free-fall. It spun completely around and headed for the steep ditch. My dad’s advice rang in my ears. “Look in the direction of where you want the car to go.” Miraculously, the car righted itself, and I was able to quickly get it under control.
It seems too easy to get caught up in circumstances, bad weather and distracted by the possibility of ditches.
This week, I have been talking to my classes about goal setting. I have given them an assignment to write one hundred things that they want to do in their lifetime, similar to a bucket list, I suppose. Of course, some take the assignment far more seriously than others, but one or two might really think. The first few items are fairly easy, although, as you progress, it takes a little more introspection to think of one hundred things.
So, what do you really want?
The point of the exercise is to point our metaphorical vehicle into the direction you want to go, not just giving in to the black ice, or windy circumstances or snow obstructing our vision.
