Traveling And The Value Of The Rear-View Mirror

It’s 2018.  Many of us will run out to the gym tomorrow and start exercising.  We’ll resolve to be better, stronger, nicer, whatever.  Some of us will look back on 2017 and lament what could have been.

I’ve spent a decent chunk of the last two years visiting places in the US I’ve never been before.  Our company was following around a respected investor, looking for great companies to invest in.  We headed to places like Lubbock, Fargo, Kelowna, Taos and lots of others.  Think of it as Shark Tank.  Without the cushy chairs.  Or the cameras.  In a trailer.  With really long days.  Okay, it’s really not much like Shark Tank.

As an aside, talking about other blogs, replying to them, is really what blogging used to be.  It was a way to start a conversation.  I enjoy reporting things, but I really love the conversation.  So, here’s me answering/amplifying my friend’s blog post.  I hope to do more of it this year.

Over the course of those two years, I developed two new, great friendships.  Paul and Dana have been living out of that Airstream and Paul had a comment that really stuck with me yesterday.  You can see the full post on his blog.  I highly recommend reading it.  In case you’re in a rush, I’ll pull out the one part I really hope you take a minute to read:

• The rear view mirror is useless. (Warning: bad dad analogy ahead… brace yourself.) When you pull a travel trailer behind you, the first thing you notice is that the rear view mirror becomes useless. You can’t see anything behind you and it forces you to just focus on what’s ahead. That’s not a bad way to think about your life as you head into 2018.

Paul might call that a bad dad analogy.  But, it struck a chord with me.

Maybe you missed out on a great deal for a cheap fare.  Maybe you didn’t get to travel enough because work, kids, parents, health got in the way.  Or, maybe your biggest regrets have nothing to do with travel.

I’ll borrow a line a friend of mine used yesterday on the phone.  I know there’s plenty of people who had a worse 2017 than I did.  I’m thankful for the treasures I realized in 2017.  Time with family and friends was and is incredibly valuable to me.

I spend way too much time looking in the rear view mirror.  Maybe you do, too?  Let’s both take a moment and consider what’s in front of us.  I’m going to spend more time with my family in 2018.  And, at the gym.  If I can pull of the gym thing, I’ll spend more time eating donuts as well.

See those dots on the horizon?  Those are all the great things to come.  When 2018 ends, there are going to be some great views in my rear view mirror.

I can’t wait.

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