When I was younger, I came across an excerpt that expressed the expectations of reaching 100,000 miles of driving. How magnificent and incredible it'd be to drive that far and enjoy life! But then it told the reality of what it's like to hit that mile-mark; screaming children, driving to work, and not going anywhere new or exciting. Even though I scoured the web, I can't seem to find it again, yet I've thought about reaching that mile mark ever since I came across those words many years ago.
I imagined that someday, when I had my license and my own car, I would monitor my miles and when I was near 100,000, I would take a road trip with my friends and we'd celebrate the accomplishment of a vehicle making it that far and us being alive and free. It's amazing, yet sad, how differently we perceive life when we are young. There's no way I could just go on a road trip the week before all of my friends and I go our separate ways for school again, but that's exactly what the young version of myself would have wanted.
Last week as I was driving to meet with a good friend I hadn't seen for many months, my 2002 Sunfire reached 100,000 miles. I caught it on video and took a Snapchat, of course! However, I didn't celebrate and I was driving alone.
Although I received the car when it was around a meager 20,000 miles, I imagine I have in fact driven that much in my life. I have probably driven more than 100,000 miles and I have definitely been in a car for even further than that. There have been road trips to Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky, bus rides to Boston and Georgia with the marching band, vacations to beaches and every day drives to school, work, home and back. We are constantly moving, at different speeds and various directions, but we are always going somewhere.
I have reflected a lot on what it means to travel. I've flown to London, seen Paris and Rome, but I have also walked to small coffee shops on the edge of campus and driven through quaint little towns to reach a final destination. Even if it isn't an elaborate adventure, we travel every single day. And I think we have a decision to make.
With every step and every mile, we have to choose how we see the world around us. It is easy to let ourselves feel stuck in our lives, get stressed and be unhappy with ourselves. I am embarrassed to admit that I let myself be that way more often than not. Since we have stumbled into a new year and left a strange one behind, I'd like to encourage myself and others to change their perceptions. Instead of rushing to class because it's cold, we should embrace how it feels to have a numb face and cold hands. Maybe we should take a look around and appreciate every moment we have and every person who has influenced our lives. We should definitely smile at others more! Perhaps it'd be best to take our foot off of the accelerator and take a minute to really experience life.
The harsh reality is that we never know when we will take our last step or drive our last mile. Some people may never even make it to 100,000 in their beat up car. Life is precious, and we travel many thousands of miles as human beings. Sometimes we take a hit from a hail storm, or we roll down our windows to take in the sunlight, but It is important to experience the ups and downs and fasts and slows. So even if your car breaks down along the way, how will you see the world when you reach 100,000 well-earned miles?
