IF LIFE IS A RACE, and if we’re going to do well with it in the long run, it would be good to keep two things in mind: track and traction.

We’d like to think that life is a cross-country run, that the scenery changes often.  It’s a nice thought, but life’s nature is often more of a track than a trail.  Round and round, progress can feel like a funny thing.  Choose your lane unwisely, and you might find yourself making smaller circles than you have to.  I think it is easy, after a time, to feel like you’ve “run out of track”: nothing new to do or see, feeling bored and boxed in. Off-road moments can be great, but that’s not where the day-to-day seems to take place.

Traction is also an important thing.  Without it, we slip and slide: we don’t get the momentum we need to move forward, we can’t keep focused or turn quickly well. And while the track has something to do with it, so do our shoes.  You don’t run a relay in boots, just like you wouldn’t run a marathon in slippers.  You choose your shoes wisely, and when they wear down, you get new ones.

Choose your track well.  Not just one that is bearable, mind you, but one on which you can excel.  And find the shoes, the skills, the platform, the vocation, that gives you the traction you need to get to where you know you need to go.