This week, I turned the news on one morning while I was getting ready for the day and they were sharing a story about an auto accident involving a Tesla.  Apparently, a Tesla crashed into a tree in Texas and when the police arrived there was nobody behind the wheel.  After their initial inquiry, they have determined that one person was in the passenger seat and one in the backseat when they crashed and that the car was in autopilot mode driving itself. Of course, Tesla, Elon Musk and the police will be battling out what actually happened for a long time, but it got me thinking about autopilot.

How many of us have gotten used to being in autopilot mode?  It’s easy, routine and the path of least resistance to get us from point a to point b.  This works great for a little while, but  if we stop to think about it, the problem is that from point a to point b is our life.  

How many of us were cruising along last year just doing what we do; working, making dinner, doing the laundry, traveling for work, catching up on the weekends, planning our annual trip to the beach or wherever and then BAM! The world stopped?    We were like that Tesla.  It was cruising along and then suddenly there were no lines or markers on the road and it was lost.  It had no idea where to go and lost control on a curve. We too, suddenly had no lines, markers are previous experience to show us how to navigate such a curve.  Thankfully, most of us were able to take back some control and figure out a new path, but it still left us unnerved.  

We have all experienced times in our lives where we were moving along and then woke up wondering how we got where we are.  Sometimes it’s been a bad job, a missed opportunity, loss of our health, too many years of over-indulging in things that “comfort” us and sometimes it’s just plain out apathy for life.

I have heard a lot of people say that they can’t wait to get back to their  normal life, but that  gives me pause.  Sure, I want to be able to go about my life, eat dinner out, see as many friends as I like, go on vacation, see family and not have anything restricted, but I have to also ask myself if everything was perfect before the lockdown.  Is there anything I want to keep or change?  I don’t want to just get from point a to point b, I want to really live my life.  I want to be the healthiest, liveliest, best version of myself moving forward.  I don’t want to wake up next spring and feel like I need a GPS to get back on track.

Ask yourself who you want driving your life.  Where are you intending to go?  Make a plan, chart a course and do it, or autopilot will definitely kick in and you won’t ever learn that new thing, discover your passion, plan that trip, build that house or look for that new career.  
Don’t spend your life waiting to get to point b.  Adjust your sails and enjoy the time it takes to get there.  We don’t want to get back to status quo and “that’s just how we do it.” 

That’s autopilot. 

 
Engage in your life and decide what you want “getting back to normal” to look like for you.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G