Level Up! With Shay

I sound like one of those people who gave up social media for a year just to write a blog about “What I Learned From Giving Up Social Media For A Year” and guess what? I guess I am that person now! I didn’t know what to expect when driving 14-16 hour days, I just knew I was going to listen to music and podcasts and audio books, I had snacks, and I had Google Maps. I was set. And I also didn’t know I would be writing a blog post about what I learned, but here I am.

I did a lot of thinking over the past two days which has been good, but I find the most important part of the trip was that I had a lot of silence. I can’t even compare my meditation practices in the past with the experience I had over the past two days. It’s not like I’ve “figured everything out,” but I’ve figured out that I don’t need to have everything figured out. For example, I didn’t need to find out what gas station I would be stopping at in the next 250 miles. When I got to 75 miles left in the tank, I started looking for signs for gas stations and picked one. Driving at night, I didn’t need to know what the next mile looked like, I just needed to pay attention to the 10 feet in front of me where the lights were shining. It showed me how to live in the moment, certain that I would be ok and confident that I could figure things out if something went wrong.

I was reminded of how amazing humans are. There are roads that go from Los Angeles to Atlanta that people have put there so I can just pick up and road trip any time I want. They weren’t just put there by the Gods. They were put there by HUMANS. The roads, the guard rails, the lines in the middle of the road (I’m forgetting what they’re called, I’m tired), the road signs, pit stops – all of those were put there by PEOPLE! I sometimes take that for granted. So much has been done for me that I don’t have to worry about. I’m not thinking “I want to move to Los Angeles to Atlanta, but that means I have to build a road that takes me there, so it’ll be a few years down the road.” No! I can just GO! I also saw a big sign for a city in Texas called Stanton that said “Home of 3000 Friendly People and a Few Old Sore Heads.” When I read that, I laughed out loud. That’s so funny and cute and humans came up with that and said let’s put in on a huge sign. Kind of makes me want to live in Stanton!

ALSO! I feel like I made good friends with the truckers on the road. Do you realize that when you order something off the internet, humans on other places in the planet move and take action so you can get that item? You press click and do NOTHING ELSE and then you get the item days later. Do you understand that truckers may be on the road overnight and all day just to get your package to you? I saw so many FedEx trucks I thought UPS had gone out of business. Even trucks that are carrying items we don’t know about that we need and use everyday! Humans are doing that work! So, yes, humans do a lot and they are amazing.

At one point, there was this car who was on my rear super tight and it made me very uncomfortable and very irritated! I wasn’t going slow! What does he have against ME to be riding my bumper like that?! Turns out, he had nothing on me because when I could move over so he could pass, he did it to the person in front of me too. So listen, as many problems the road may bring on with different drivers, it’s almost NEVER personal. In the past, I may have sat there and complained or tried to make him even more mad by not getting over (I didn’t do that often, ok?), but this time, I let it go completely. There were a couple times where I cursed for a moment, but then realized seconds later that it was silly and that it was an unnecessary reaction. Still learning. I didn’t let my energy go to anything I couldn’t control, that’s the biggest point here.

I’d say the last, but not the least, thing I learned was I can do anything I set my mind to. I knew I would be making my way to Midland, TX the first day and I knew it would be 16 hours. Anytime the thought of “Oh wow can I actually drive 16 hours?” came into my mind, I stopped it immediately. Of course I can do that drive! Not only do I think I can, but people have done it before, why would I not be able to? People hear 16 hours and automatically think they couldn’t do that drive. Why? Why is that an automatic assumption? At least say “I wouldn’t want to do that drive” because then you aren’t just cutting yourself short by saying “you can’t”. Even when I was a little tired, I’d look at the map and yell “Woo! Under 10 hours left!” or however much time I had, but I had no doubt that I would make it to my destination. I wouldn’t let any other thought into my head because the thought of accomplishing what I set out to do. Sounds a lot like life, right?

Anyway, if you’re looking for a change in perspective and you have a car and a little bit of money, I suggest doing some looooong rides like I did. I wasn’t looking or searching for a changed perspective, but I surely got it, so it looks like I wanted one either way.
Thank you for reading and sticking with me. Excited to bring you more content as I get more setting into Atlanta. Wishing you the best ❤

#LevelUp

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