Hydrangea with monarch butterfly
Published by Craig Corti on 5/17/2023
One evening in May 2019 while I was visiting my grandpa in Florida, I received a phone call with news about my Uncle being in the hospital. He had been battling cancer for the past handful of years and his health was declining quickly.
Moments after I hung up the phone, I approached my grandpa gently and let him know that we needed to get in the car and head north towards New Jersey that evening. As you could imagine, this was not easy especially as emotion was running high. I knew I needed to be the source of strength and calm for him as we drove several hundred miles northbound.
That first day of driving was exhausting. I knew I could handle driving through the night, but I worried what kind of toll the drive would take on my mid 80 year old grandpa. We made it to Charlotte, NC around 2am before stopping for the night.
That next day as we were making our way north through Virginia I expressed some impatience about the drive. I felt an obligation to get to New Jersey quicker. There was urgency. We needed to be with family and to see my Uncle.
Anyone who has driven the entirety of I-81 in Virginia in "one fell swoop" would understand. The interstate runs north/south and is nearly 325 miles long. The scenery of the Blue Ridge Mountains is nice, but after a while, patience begins to wear thin as you navigate the big tractor trailers.
This is where he offered me some life advice:
"It's better to arrive slowly, than to rush and never make it at all".
That really resonated with me. I felt significant pressure to get myself and my grandpa to the final destination so we could be with loved ones, but I was losing sight of the task at hand. Driving safely! In this case, it was certainly better to move slowly but deliberately in the name of safety.
A variation of this lesson can be applied elsewhere.
Maybe you are out hiking but you are getting fatigued at the mid way point. You're hungry. You just want to get back in one piece. This is where it's especially important to take a moment and be mindful of what you are doing. It's better to move slowly/deliberately instead of trying to rush your way back. That may increase your risk of a sprained ankle or a serious fall.
Whenever you begin to feel impatient, honestly ask yourself:
Is there some value in taking a breather, collecting your thoughts, reframing the situation?
Maybe the answer is a resounding "no"! In either case, the lesson here is that taking a second to be mindful might help you out when you most need it.
-Craig, Old-Timer Mindset
One evening in May 2019 while I was visiting my grandpa in Florida, I received a phone call with news about my Uncle being in the hospital. He had been battling cancer for the past handful of years and his health was declining quickly.
Moments after I hung up the phone, I approached my grandpa gently and let him know that we needed to get in the car and head north towards New Jersey that evening. As you could imagine, this was not easy especially as emotion was running high. I knew I needed to be the source of strength and calm for him as we drove several hundred miles northbound.
That first day of driving was exhausting. I knew I could handle driving through the night, but I worried what kind of toll the drive would take on my mid 80 year old grandpa. We made it to Charlotte, NC around 2am before stopping for the night.
That next day as we were making our way north through Virginia I expressed some impatience about the drive. I felt an obligation to get to New Jersey quicker. There was urgency. We needed to be with family and to see my Uncle.
Anyone who has driven the entirety of I-81 in Virginia in "one fell swoop" would understand. The interstate runs north/south and is nearly 325 miles long. The scenery of the Blue Ridge Mountains is nice, but after a while, patience begins to wear thin as you navigate the big tractor trailers.
This is where he offered me some life advice:
"It's better to arrive slowly, than to rush and never make it at all".
That really resonated with me. I felt significant pressure to get myself and my grandpa to the final destination so we could be with loved ones, but I was losing sight of the task at hand. Driving safely! In this case, it was certainly better to move slowly but deliberately in the name of safety.
A variation of this lesson can be applied elsewhere.
Maybe you are out hiking but you are getting fatigued at the mid way point. You're hungry. You just want to get back in one piece. This is where it's especially important to take a moment and be mindful of what you are doing. It's better to move slowly/deliberately instead of trying to rush your way back. That may increase your risk of a sprained ankle or a serious fall.
Whenever you begin to feel impatient, honestly ask yourself:
Is there some value in taking a breather, collecting your thoughts, reframing the situation?
Maybe the answer is a resounding "no"! In either case, the lesson here is that taking a second to be mindful might help you out when you most need it.
-Craig, Old-Timer Mindset
