Slow and Easy

We’re on the South Dakota highway, and as we start to dig into trucker culture I’m becoming fascinated by the people inside the big white boxes I never used to think twice about (except maybe as a kid if I wanted them to honk the horn). One of them told me we’d never get to the interesting places in the world because we’re “too big.” I thought that was interesting- as a kid we’re always ‘too little.’ This was the first time I’d considered that being big could be restricting too.

Last night we took off from MN, ready to conquer the Rockies. Then we stopped at a rest stop and talked with three truckers, Andy Lloyd and Rob. Lloyd had just come from Montana and assured us “the roads out there are slick as a hog.” The expression somewhere between perplexed curiosity and concerned grimace on his weather-beaten face gave us reason to stop and think things through a bit.

We could head South, but the winds of the great plains don’t really abate until all the way down in Louisiana, which means we’d be about tripling our proposed journey. South was on the table, but it wasn’t appetizing.

Luckily for us, Lloyd was willing to take some time and go through each of the major considerations we’d need to take before safely heading West. We geared up, got Diesel anti-gel, learned how to put chains on the tires, and got enough supplies so that if we got stranded we could survive on our own for a week or more. Most of all, Lloyd hammered in the truth that the way to take a big vehicle a long way over dangerous terrain is “slow and easy. Sllloooowwwwww and easy.

This trip is definitely the largest and most dangerous endeavor I’ve ever felt responsible for. I’ve had a good deal of experience with danger in the past and even a brush or two with death, but never in a way in which so many people were involved. I’m finding comfort in the notion of slow and easy.

I think a lot of what I’m learning on this trip is to slow down, appreciate life and breathe and act easy. As an ambitious person, a lot of the time I want to get right to things and be as productive as I can. But then I lose perspective, and I’m not actually being productive, just busy.

The more I think about it, I feel I gave up on my old work and started this journey because I was frustrated with trying really hard and not achieving the results I wanted in life. From the people I know, it seems many people have a frustration with the amount of sacrifice and effort they are required to put into jobs that give them relatively low satisfaction.

Since we’ve begun, results have been coming of their own accord, and I haven’t even felt like I’m working. I’ve been able to stay present and take advantage of opportunities as they come. It really does seem that when you’re following your heart and doing what you love things naturally fall into place.

I’m also finding happiness and fulfillment because I feel a deep connection to what we’re working towards with the trip, which allows me to feel at peace regardless of whether or not we make money or get more fans on Facebook. This acceptance of my purpose in life is extremely freeing. It lets me be OK with being just one individual among billions, and in that true security I think the real possibility to impact the world arises.

Slow and easy- the way to take a big thing a long way. Wise words from a man who spends his time moving all the things we consume.