Since I was little, my family has driven for every vacation. The first time I went on a plane, I was 17. This goes to say, I spent a lot of days in the car driving cross country. All that time crammed in a mini van with my family has taught me some valuable lessons. I learned many things that apply to the grand scheme of life, but here are the five biggest things.
1. Compromise
Sorry, but it's not always about you. Coming from a big family I learned that my way wasn't always the right way. Sometimes, you have to sit in the back seat in between your two younger siblings. Other times, you have to share a bed with them in the hotel room. Neither of which are what you would want or think you deserve just for being older than them. So goes life. We think that the world owes us something solely because we live in it. But we don't. Life requires work, it means giving up a bit of ourselves for a greater good (even if that good is just because mom said so).
2. Happiness Is In The Journey
All the pictures taken cannot capture how happy I have truly been when on these trips. There are plenty of pictures taken at truck stops and random hotel pools that were definitely not written into the itinerary. Not to mention all the laughs and games shared in the car on the way to said stops and hotels. I can remember tears rolling down my face as I laughed with my family. This is the stuff that matters. Not how fancy the final hotel was, or how or what we toured while we were there. Yea, that part was fun and I can check it off a list, but these random happenings aren't on a list. They weren't really planned to happen but they did. And these are the things that can be overlooked and forgotten. Too often I find myself too focused on the end point. Getting to college, having a career, starting a family. But what about what's along the way? I'm not saying every moment of life is memorable or worth recording but some certainly are. What about football games, sledding down Old Main Hill, or cooking with your roommates? These are the memories we make along the way to the big moments. Find the things that make you joyful everyday- there's no need to wait for something big to be happy.
3. Attitude is EVERYTHING
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not usually the best with having a good attitude when trapped in a car for 14 hours. We're all tired, cranky, hungry and sick of being together. And only one person is responsible for changing the whole experience for you. That person is you. Simply making the best out of the situation or helping with a smile will help you have a more pleasant time, and it will also probably help those around you not be as upset. While you can't make them sing songs with you or play I spy, you can change what you do, and how you do it by improving your attitude. Life likes to hand us personal trials and pain that makes us tired and upset. But you choose what you do with it. You want to be mad? Go for it. Focusing on what's wrong certainly isn't going to help you find a solution, so maybe anger isn't the best option. Maybe you should try learning from it. Approach the situation differently. SMILE.
4. Your family sticks around
After all the time spent with just my family, without the distraction of work or friends (which applies to all vacations not just road trips), I've learned that they're going to be around for well, forever. Over the years friends have come and gone but my family hasn't. These trips have put us in very close corners for very long periods of time where the good, the bad, and the ugly, have been shown. Somehow they still find the means to love me and vice versa. You never know how much time you have with them so make the most of it. Find the little quirks in each family member and LOVE THEM.
