Well, good Wednesday morning to you. I am writing today’s blog from a Starbucks in Joliet, Illinois, planning this year’s RockStar Road Trip workshop, coming up in September. I stopped here after sitting on Interstate 80 for more than an hour walking my bike across a 10 mile stretch of construction. It was time to take a break and get off the bike for a while so I stopped here to replan the rest of my day.
I have only been through this town once before and that was over 20 years ago. Each and every time I hear the name of this town, including today, only one thing comes to my Rocker mind: “Joliet Jake Blues,” the character played by the late John Belushi, starting as a SNL music sketch and ending up with a movie. The Blues Brothers are now a legend with the musical talent they put together over the years, not just in the movies, but in tours also.
So now I’m behind where I wanted to be, I’ve been delayed and gone through a few detours. But I am still able to sit in this town which gives me a great music icon to think about. How can we relate this to our personal growth in life?
On a road trip you are going to face detours. From time to time you will get caught in a delay – for construction, or an accident, or something else. You are going to have them in your life, and you can be like most of the people in the cars that were going by me: they were frustrated, upset and working at frustrating others. Or you can be like the truckers I watched who just rolled along. I listened to them on the CB radio, heard how they would try to work together to keep rolling and not have to stop so much. I did not see any of them trying to jump ahead just another ten feet as so many cars did. They just calmly rolled through. They knew that there was a delay and just rolled with it. I wasn’t expecting the delay but once I was stuck in it, it was time to just crank some tunes and make it through. And, interestingly, it is often these times of delay and detour that you find some of the best treasures on your path.
So in your life how do you handle these delays? Each and every problem you face in life is a chance for growth! My mom just read that and is still wondering if I get that yet. Yes, I can get frustrated with the little delays in life. Yes, I can get upset when there is a detour that I must take to grow. But no matter what the problem is in life, you MUST go through it. Many people spend an entire lifetime trying to get around the problems they face. Imagine your life in a bigger light than it is. Imagine that you are a person who is supposed to create something great like Edison created the light bulb. If Edison had worked around his problems rather than going through them, developing his many great inventions, we would be reading by candle light still. So what have you been going around in your life that you need to work through instead?
The great thing about life and its problems is you will continue to face the same struggle until you either grow through it and develop into a better person, or until you become bitter towards the very problem you are facing.
And. Yes, I am facing a few myself these days. I have challenges that I’m trying to go through in my life, after years of going around them. I once heard the statement that taking the path of least resistance is what makes men and rivers crooked. Look at a river or small brook next time you go past one. You will see the water going around the small rocks in its way. Then look at the big rivers and you will realize how many obstacles are in there much bigger than those in the small brook.
So the road of life may have given you some detours today. Are you going to complain about them? Take another route? Or will you go through them and find a great treasure in your life. Today I’m going to end by dedicating this post to Joliet Jake Blues, as he gave me the treasure to stop in this town that always makes me think of him.
I’m Tim Gillette the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time for you to Live the life you always wanted, by loving what you do and those you share your life with, let me know if I can help you become the RockStar in your world.
