Looking Through the Rear-view Mirror

I just returned from a leadership retreat with my husband in the beautiful Walla Walla Valley. Our key speaker on Friday was an energizing gentleman, Boaz Rauchwerger, who reminded us of the virtues of living a positive-minded life.

Boaz was full of short soundbites and one that stuck in my mind was, "I'm a car with no rear-view mirror". In other words, don't focus or dwell on the past, but put your attention on the present and what you want to create in the future. This is something I wholly subscribe to, but it was great to get a reminder.

On Saturday evening the festivities ended and many of us decided to gather over dinner. We traveled by van to the most amazing restaurant not far from Walla Walla called Whoopemup. (Yes, that is the real name and this is a shameless plug!) The restaurant was about 15 miles away from Walla Walla in a small town called Waitsberg. The ride was spectacular, but I was unfortunately sitting in the backward facing seat. Nonetheless, I could see the rolling hills were breathtaking, but I found myself really missing the anticipation of what was ahead. This, combined with my memory of getting car sick when I was a child, made the van ride less enjoyable than I would have liked.

As my husband and I prepared to leave Walla Walla yesterday, we discussed what route to take on the way back to Seattle. Without any hesitation I said, "I would love to take the route through Waitsberg so I could see the full rolling view of the mountains. I was so tired of seeing what's already past."

In that second, I realized this was a real life example and a great metaphor to bring Boaz's words to life. Looking through the rear-view mirror is no way to live our lives, especially in a twelve-passenger van.