Love, Limitations, Respect, and The Merry-Go-Round of Life

Life is, in some ways, like a merry-go-round. Sometimes we push, sometimes we ride, sometimes we get thrown off especially when we push too fast.

When our lives are too hectic, it can make critical thinking difficult. It's almost like you have to slow down a minute to stop and think. Take the guy that works 60 hours a week and the drive adds another 20 hours to the week. Now put him on call 24/7. And let's make his job high stress.

This doesn't stop critical thinking, it just makes less time for it. And the faster the merry-go-round goes, the more difficult it is to disengage. To the above hours, add the time it takes to readjust, if you can, to a reasonable pace before it starts over.

There's almost no time left for critical thinking and for nurturing your relationships as a spouse and parent. No question about it, love is taking a backseat. This is the merry-go-round of life.

I'm reminded of a song...

"I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry and don't know why"

"I'm In A Hurry" by Alabama

Actually, I do know why but that's a story for another time.

When we are able to slow down, we can devote more time to showing our love and respect for those closest to us. And we can apply critical thinking to it to enhance the results. We've got time to think.

That was my life for the last 25 years I worked as an operations manager of a small mom and pop trucking company. That job is best described as solving problems, all day, one after another, it was amazing. One customer phone call could cause me to reroute several drivers to get everything done. The company only lasted a couple of years after I retired. It had my attention but not much else did.

Now that's all changed and I've slowed down and finally I'm getting to the point that I wanted to make about how this has helped me view things more logically.... with time to think.

Now I see the limitations in other people. For instance, I used to try to direct things the way I thought they should be and that caused much trouble with my wife and son. Well, you're trying to raise a child you love and you want the best for, so much advice is offered in that regard. It's given out of love, that's it, that's all, but it's ignored, constantly. That used to upset me to no end but no more.

Some people simply can not do some things, that's their limit. Respect them, love them anyway, and let them be free. They can't help it, let them find their own way and get out of the way.

More loving, less judging