TRACTION

 

A close friend of mind mentioned something to me recently that was simple, yet so thought provoking. I feel compelled to share it.

He said that there is something about me that he has always admired throughout the years. He said, “one thing you always seem to have in your life is Traction”. He went on to explain what he meant.

So then I thought about...

What does it mean to live a life with “traction”? I started to write down my thoughts.

Traction is...

• Forward momentum
• both Uphill and Downhill
• Grip
• No spinning wheels
• No sliding

Have you ever lost traction? Very helpless and humbling feeling. I remember one day I was driving my 4-wheel drive pickup up a very steep slope with two friends along. We were hunting in the Colorado mountains. I made it about 80% up the incline.

Forward momentum stopped. Wheels spinning. Before long we were moving backwards at increasing speed. My friend said, “are we in reverse?” I said, “No. we are sliding!” And, we slid at that increasing speed until a tree slammed into the side of my truck and saved us from tumbling down a steep incline.

I’ve never forgotten how that felt. Helpless. Bracing for impact. How much damage is this going to cause? 

Now, am I so special? I highly doubt it. But, I appreciate my friend's compliment. I suppose when I think about it, I do seem find a way to keep moving forward.

While I’m sure at some point I have quit, or surrendered on something. But, most days, I don’t stop, and I don’t give up. No matter how steep or how long the climb, I do try and strive for positive momentum, and accomplishment.

Where’s the message in all of this?

However slow or fast, we trudge on. We move. One day at a time, we move. We don’t take days off, and we don’t allow ourselves the option of going backward. We can go sideways and around, or over, or under our obstacles. But we don't lose traction. 

If we veer too far from our destiny, then course correction is needed. So, ideally we need a compass too, so that we can be confident that our destination is ahead, even though we can’t always see it, and we don’t know how far we have left to go.

I suppose this is also what it is to be a driven individual...

to have: will, conviction, passion, energy, fortitude, fuel.

And what fuels us? What fuels our soul? What keeps it going, or gets it going? We need some motivation, right ?

How about: 

• Inspiration
• Promises made to ourselves and others
• The quest for lasting significance, acceptance, vindication, fulfillment.
• To make our loved ones proud.
• To live, rather than to exist.
• To seek and make a better life for ourselves and others.
•  To give the gift of a better life to our offspring and the next generation, than what we had.

I know there are plenty out there who find life far more daunting to navigate. How desperate it must be for those who do choose to give up, and stop the fight or the quest. To stop striving. To decide their destination isn’t achievable or reachable. To succumb to whatever series of bad choices it took to land them in a place where they have no soles left on their shoes, or no tread left on their tires. This message is for you, and it is for me.

Baby steps are absolutely traction. You crawl, then you walk, then you run and climb. You build muscles along the way that allow you to proper yourself faster and longer.

To have a life of traction is to have some foundations we acquire that will propel us. We have to seek these, almost continually, because we are competing all day, every day, one way or another.

• Education
• Knowledge
• Wisdom
• Craft
• Skill/Expertise
• Credentials (a drivers license, a certificate, a diploma, a degree)
• People skills
• Communication skills
• Trustworthiness
• Dependability
• Self Care
• Health (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual)

All of this takes guidance and prodding and inspiration and instinct. And for me, I firmly believe that what propels me on a daily basis is the power of the Holy Spirit, available to all of us. If you don't know what that means, then let's please have a conversation about it, because I would love to tell you how to have that in your life. 

We can’t expect to navigate this life all on our own. This life will tear us up, beat us down, disqualify us in an instant. Each of us needs forces outside of ourselves to keep us going, because the road is long, hard, and unforgiving. Around every corner lurks another tragedy, another crisis, another loss. If we don’t brace ourselves and expect them, these forces will stop our momentum, and may even cause us to slide backwards. 

To prepare for the coming adversity, and to have contingencies in place, is to live a life of traction.

Some days we will get 5 miles and surprise ourselves. Some days we may get 5 feet. But we move.

And if we do, we are still closer today to our destination than we were yesterday.

Thanks for the inspiration, Jim...you are a great friend.