Last week some dear friends of mine had to evacuate their
homes. They all live in a beautiful part of Southern California, and wild
fires were threatening to take their homes and change their lives. When
faced with that possibility, I am told that you start to think about the
few items that you might put in your car to take with you. For some I am
sure it would be overwhelming. Where do you start? What would you save?
It is personal. It would be different for each person and perhaps worth
thinking about regardless of the likelihood of ever having to do it.
One friend loaded up her computer equipment because it is so
crucial to her business and her life. She is a tri-athlete, so she packed
her gear and her bike. She doesn't have children, but she loves her dog
like a child, so the dog and a few dog necessities went in the car. She
packed her "Friends" DVD's because they make her laugh. She
thought she might need that if she lost all her stuff. She packed some
precious photos and enough clothes to get her through a few days. Then
she drove.
You might think of a totally different list. You might have
a totally different list if you had a half an hour to ponder the question
versus a minute or two to make a quick decision. The reality is that we
live in a society where we gather and store a lot of stuff.
The questions really are;
How much do we need?
Do we need it all?
Do we need more?
Does it all serve us?
Does it slow us down?
Does the need to get more keep us from living the life we want to live?
Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with wanting to
have a lot of stuff. As a coach I would just challenge you to ask
yourself if you are doing it because you want it or because you have been
told you should want it. On my travels to third world countries I have
observed people who don't have a fraction of the possessions that we
have, yet who still have a lot of time to laugh, smile and play!
"What's in your car?" is a question that might help us to focus
on what we really need.
|