Riding the Road of Life

I just had a short conversation with Dad about using his motorbike for my provisional test next month.

As we were speaking I recalled the time I rode from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi and the lesson he taught me before departing on my trip back in 2019.

“Where you look is where you go,” he told me.

At the time this was just practical riding advice that explained the mechanics of being on a bike, and how where you looked with your head, controlled the direction of where the bike moved.

This was an important reminder when I was riding so I would remain aware of the road ahead, and not get distracted by things that could quite literally derail me.

Fast forward to now, and this conversation we just had (less than five minutes ago) and I’ve just realised this is a fantastic metaphor for being on the road of life.

If you turn your attention for one moment towards a negative thought, you will slowly start moving towards that negative reality, versus building that mindfulness to keep laser sharp focus on where you’re trying to go.

However, there’s a caveat to this—while you might have an intended destination in mind on your own journey, you will most likely run into road blocks. It’s important that in that moment, you do not focus on the block so intensely that you crash into it, and instead scan the road ahead, turn away from the objection and find a new path.

This is where the real fun happens anyway.