Life is a trip

Every parent at one time or another has probably encountered the dreaded "Are we there yet?" question from a bored kid in the back seat.  Who knows how long that question has been around?  The "Are we there yet?" interrogative may have been occurring since the horse and buggy days.  Even as adults we often miss the point of traveling.  We confuse the destination with the goal of traveling.

Modern society always has to be somewhere at a very specific time and the process of getting there is viewed as an annoyance that should be shortened.  The trip is dull, but unfortunately the destination often sours too.  We go all that way only to be disappointed.  We pictures our selves at our destination having fun with various activities, but the anticipation of the arrival often is too high and we are left with a flat feeling about our trip. 

My motorcycle has taught me a different way of looking at travel and my life.  When you go sport touring you may have a final destination but the destination is not the point.  I ride my bike everywhere, even to work.  I find myself wanting the journey to never end.  I get to work and I look forward to the ride home.  The ride itself becomes the joy of traveling. 

We take many road trips around the country and the thrill of being on the bike on a twisty road is difficult to explain to an individual who is stuck in the "are we there yet?" mentality.  But once you get on a bike and you take it through a winding road and you lean into a curve you will feel an exhilaration that will breath life into your journey.  There is something about a little bit of danger to command the mind to focus on the moment.  The busy hustle and bustle of work, bills and mundane responsibilities float away as you concentrate on the road.

Unfortunately the "are we there yet?" mentality carries over into about everything we do in life.  We continually set goals for ourselves and take careful measurements to determine if we have reached those goals.  Sadly, in the process of continually asking the question " are we there yet?" we miss the point of the journey.  Often when we achieve our goals only to discover that the goal was not all that sweet or worse yet, we tire of the trip and quit the journey.  We say things like "When I graduate I am going to…" or "When I get married I will…" or "When I get so much money I will…" and in our promises to ourselves we often come up short.  I am not saying that we should stop planning, I am just saying that we need to enjoy the ride.  We should see the road we are on and enjoy the moment that we are on it.

What we really need are sport touring bikes for every journey in life.  We need to be exhilarated by the twist and turns of the road of life until we understand that life is a trip and forget about the destination.  Maybe we will arrive at the different mile post we have set as goals for our selves and maybe we wont.  Maybe we will get lost along the way and discover a whole new scenic way in the process.  Detours can be just as interesting as the road we thought we were going to travel.  Enjoy it. Accept it. Focus on the moment.

We need a life bike that will focus our minds on the present and allow us to enjoy the lean of a curve.  I don't know what the final destination will be like, I kind of think it will suck (hope I am wrong), but in the meantime I intend to enjoy the journey and stop asking the question about how close I am to the end.

You would be surprised by what a motorcycle can teach you.  Try riding for the pure joy of riding.