The Emotional Road Metaphor

First, a brief apology for being largely absent this week. I always feel guilty, but I am under dayjob crunch, so there you have it. I will get around as I can.

Pretty, but treacherous, this one...

And now the blog...

So it's like people are roads, right? And life is the car, driving along us. I know that sounds backward, but hear me out. Because honestly, I think that the PERSON is the less changing of the two and LIFE speeds up, slows down, changes gears, breaks down... and each of us sort of has a road style of how we are as life zooms over us.


This realization came upon me this weekend as I interacted with someone and realized they were a road with about an inch of standing water... life is ALWAYS a little harder, but if life gets too fast, then this person gets dangerous. (S)he needs to figure out a way to SLOW LIFE so the wheels can solidly rest again or that lack of connection to reality is going to cause a whole BUNCH of lives to crash all over him/her.

This is me. Not DULL, but not challenging, either.

Me? I am a nice four-lane through country that is enjoyable—so life isn't tempted to just speed through too fast, but I don't have a lot of ups and downs or twists and turns. Life can set cruise control and I'm not going to fell a log across the road or something. I'm probably a bit freaky in my evenness. One of my neighbors called me Job not long ago. (Job from the Bible, not to be confused with Steve Jobs which would make me happier—better uber creative than patient, but hey, you work with what you have)

Try to avoid being this... Though I have known people...

I know people who are gravel, always keeping life a little uncertain... people who are city streets, full of rules and predictability and order. I know a round-about or two. Most people are probably closer to two lane highways—good most of the time, but with occasional steep climbs that hold life back or twisting turns that make them slow down.

I'd even say some of my artist friends are more like canals—far more enjoyable on a nice day, but throw in a storm and HO-BOY!


So what kind of road are you? Your primary characters? Am I making sense?