Drive

All human beings are possessed with a drive. Something that pushes us forward. Something that gets us through the mundane, mind numbing hours which can be work, homework, long commutes, talking to your parents, and so on. This drive is also what pushes us into making big life changes. Getting married, going to college, buying a car, getting a job, having children. We've all seen it on the TV, the woman who complains about her biological clock, the single mother who wants to go to law school, the 30 year old hamburger flipper who turns into a multi-billion dollar computer mogul. And, I would hope we have all felt it in our lives. That nag, that itch, whatever it is.

Some people's drives are so slow that they kind of meander through life. Other people ignore their drives and try to remain static, but are dragged forward by the gears of time until they are so tired of getting scuffed up they hitch themselves up and start lugging themselves onward. Some people never pick themselves up. (*cough, cough, ex-husband, cough, cough*) Excuse me, I had a tickle in my throat.

On the other side are the people whose drives are overclocked. The overachiever, the perfectionist. The kid who graduates with a double doctorate at the age of 21. The CEOs, the entrepreneurs, the whiz kids. OK, so there is a certain level of intelligence at play there, but you can be the smartest person in the world and if you won't get up off your fat butt it means nothing. These people have intelligence AND drive. Passion, enthusiasm, optimism. Drive.

The irony of this drive is that once you get to your goal, your job, college diploma, wedding certificate, you can't just stop. You can sit for a minute or two and bask in the contentment that comes from accomplishing something, but that drive is there pushing you to do some laundry, weed the garden, in extreme cases maybe go to Grad School, or try for that big promotion.

It never stops.

In the immortal words of Walt Disney, "Keep Moving Forward." It doesn't matter what you are doing or really even where you are going. Baby stepping your way there is completely acceptable.

Let's take my lovely mother as a prime example. She found herself in her early 40s, with a job she used to love but was disappointing her in increasing intervals. Her oldest child out of the house, and child number 2 not that far off. And that damn drive push, push, PUSHING her to do something. So, a woman who had graduated from high school but, for whatever reasons, had failed out of college, who had 2 jobs, a husband, 4 children (for those of you doing the math, that's 5 children, and a dog), this very woman did something that had to be extremely terrifying and perhaps a tad insane.

She enrolled in college.

Not only that, but she set a goal. She wanted to graduate with a 4.0. Ah, that is where the insanity came in. So, day after day, class after class, module after module, she worked her way through. She started getting As, and she just never stopped.

36 months, 25 blood draws, and 3 externships later, my mom is graduating from college with a 4.0 GPA on her 43rd birthday. Two days later, she is doing a half marathon.

Was it easy? No way! Was it comfortable? Not on your life! Was it scary? You bet your sweet patootey!

Was it worth it?

The next time you see her, you can ask her yourself.

So I ask you all, gentle readers (I stole that, that's probably copyrighted), what is the next step in YOUR lives? Is it something major like going back to school, having another baby, getting a different job? Is it something smaller like losing some weight, getting back to running, reading more books? Whatever it is that is hard, or scary, or both, I say do it like you are getting into a pool that is cold at first but will feel wonderful after you are all wet.

Just take a deep breath, close you eyes, and JUMP!

(Author's Note: I titled this post, then looked back on it. The title is appropriate, however I want to put in a word for the movie "Drive". I hated it. It was awful. I can't believe someone as beautiful as Ryan Gosling would subject himself to a movie so mind numbing and ridiculous. You can try to convince me it was a good movie, but I will just remind you of the gentleman who got his head stomped in and leave it at that. End of author's note.)