Keep Driving

Keep Driving
“If you ever were going to listen to me, then this is the time to listen……keep driving,” she said.” His wife spoke these words as he reluctantly drove his family to Mississippi at the last minute to escape Hurricane Katrina.
The well dressed concierge at the Chicago hotel told me this story of how he left New Orleans for a new life in Chicago. Despite several hours driving and getting his car broken into, he is glad he listened to his wife that day. His two boys are in good schools and he has a good job even though he misses his friends in New Orleans.
I kept driving, too, as I dropped out of college in New Orleans and left my home, family, and friends for a new life on the west coast. I still keep in touch with most of them, and I still consider it one of the best decisions that I have ever done for myself. At that time, the city had high unemployment and was riddled with drugs and violence not unlike today- over 30 years later.
It takes a lot of @#$%*&!!! to change and to change big. It is said that moving and changing relationships are two of the highest stressors that can cause suicide. But there are no studies about the stress and oppressive feelings that come when nothing is happening and you wallow in the desire for something more or something different but never make that leap. I coach people who want to make transitions- transitions from poverty to wealth- from boring job to exciting career- from single to happily in relationship. It’s not easy but always worthwhile.
Along a long stretch of highway we watched the sky turn colors as the sun set. “Do you want to stop?” my husband said.
“No, not yet. Let’s keep driving,” I said as I marveled at the various colors in the clouds and felt the wind in my hair.
“Let’s keep driving.”