Are we there yet?

This all too familiar backseat cadence has plagued family vacations since the invention of the automobile. As kids, we loved dropping the “are we there yet?” on our parents. Unfortunately, it tends to lose its humor value once you become the parent. It’s just simply not that amusing when you’re attempting to navigate an SUV across three lanes of interstate traffic to the island sounds of Spongebob Squarepants. Yes Mom and Dad… now we know what it feels like.

But let’s be honest… kids aren’t stupid. They know damn well we aren’t there yet. The answer is never a “yes, we’re there.” This question is rarely, if ever, answered with a sound “yes” or “no.” Instead, they tend take a different shape: “Does it look like we’re there yet?” “Ask again and we won’t be going anywhere.” And even the borderline inappropriate “Shut up before I throw your PSP out the window and fasten your mouth closed with the seatbelt.”

But the truth of the matter is that no one will ever get a firm “yes.” Everyone in the vehicle knows you’re not there or you’d be there. The car is still moving, the kids are still yelling, and your spouse is still arguing with the GPS. “No damnit! We are not there yet!” So how do you know when you’re there? Well, now that’s a good question.

As we grow older, “are we there yet” begins to take new meaning. “Is this where I’m supposed to be? Is this is good as life is gonna get? Have I reached my peak? Have I progressed and achieved success in relationships and in my career? Am I happy? Where am I going?” Ironically, we spend our childhood joking about why it’s taking so long to get to a destination, never understanding the true complexity of the question when applied to our ambitions.

I guess if you find yourself asking “am I there yet,” you probably aren’t there. As kids, we knew that at some point, we would be there. It may take a couple naps and a few slugfests with your siblings, but eventually you’d have a chance to massage out the numbness in your left cheek. Once real life kicks in, you may spend years grinding it out on your leather ass without ever putting the car in park.

Just like those family trips in the station wagon, life’s journey requires quite a bit of planning. You can’t expect to reach your destination without mapping out a solid course. And perhaps that’s the one thing many of us overlook. Instead of putting together a 1-year, 2-year, or 5-year plan, we simply assume that if we keep driving we’ll eventually get there. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. In order to truly achieve the success we desire, it may be helpful to install a primary navigation system.

If you’re still struggling to keep the car on the road, writing out a plan of action can help. Parking your goals next to the rusty ideas in your head will only make it that much easier to dump them into the incinerator when things aren’t working out as expected. Yes, it would be nice if we could simply enter our 5-year coordinates into a GPS device and let a soothing voice direct us to the pot of gold. But for now, we’ll have to find our own path. So get out that notebook and start planning, because on the road of life, you’re likely to run into construction, roadblocks, and hordes of idiot drivers. But that's nothing you can't handle with a little preparation and a set of new tires. Giddy-up.

Nuke -The Truth-