Road trips are always an adventure. The open highway calls with the sounds of music, laughter and tires on pavement, the glow of headlights and neon truck stop lights, and the mixed flavors of sweet chocolate, salty potato chips and greasy fast food.
Road trips are about the destination. Family vacations to the east and west coasts, trips to visit my daughter off at college and trips back home to see family for birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Road trips are also about the journey. Alone, I turn the radio up and sing out loud or play out my latest story in my head. If I’m accompanied by family or friends, we listen to music, talk, laugh and share interesting stories.
Either way, road trips are about enjoying the countryside and creating lasting memories.
I attended a real estate conference this week and took in an overwhelming amount of helpful and productive information. On the last day, there was a touching and motivational segment on overcoming obstacles.
Three courageous agents sat under the glaring stage lights and shared their very personal stories with the other 10,000 attendees. A few years ago, they all lived very fruitful lives with big houses, expensive cars, jet-setting vacations and very happy families. They were on top of the world.
History then repeated itself, and the real estate market changed. Before they could adjust, their businesses nose-dived and they lost everything. In the same year, one agent also struggled with serious medical issues and family trauma. Her troubling story brought tears to my eyes, but she finally shared how, with the help of family and the staff at her office, she survived. Then they all shared how they were not only surviving, they were thriving.
One agent, while sharing her story, said that she knew she’d hit rock bottom when she considered ending it all. The president of our company brought that up later, but his response wasn’t what I expected. He said he didn’t believe in “rock bottom”. He believes that if people wait to hit rock bottom before picking themselves back up, they will continue to fall and never get the chance to improve their lives.
I thought about that the rest of the day and considered the implications of such thinking. There were several times in my life I was so low, I believed I was dangerously close to hitting the bottom. If there is no such thing as rock bottom, how different could life be for me now if, after days of doing nothing but worrying and crying, I hadn’t forced myself to get up and push my way through it?
All people suffer hard times and tragedies. Good times and bad times are both a part of life. Does it make sense that there is no rock bottom because everyone’s low point is different? I’ve learned that everyone’s high point is different because some people have limited thinking. They, not the world, hold themselves back. If that’s true, could they, not the world, be allowing themselves to free-fall lower than someone else?
The question begs, are we truly the masters of our own destiny? Do we, not the world, decide how high we can fly or how far we can fall? Believe it’s true and, starting today, you can create a new, powerful destiny. Don’t believe it, and you can go through life wearing galoshes, trudging through the mud along the bottom. I choose to believe. There is no “the sky’s the limit”, and there is no “rock bottom”.
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