It has been a crazy couple of weeks and with almost no time to shoot and less time to blog, I found myself lost in a deep fog of chaotic activity.
When I reflected on that, this morning, I reminded myself that I had actually taken some fog shots over a week ago that had made it off my camera but had not reached their blog-home. (Which is where nearly all my images these days end up).
So, I sought them out a moment ago and have placed them here. They were taken on a particularly foggy morning … one that I was up early enough to run into Tampa and explore what the fog was doing to the skyline.
The drive into town was challenging, to say the least and here are a couple of phone pics to show what I mean about the driving conditions. They aren’t good quality but should give you an idea. There were several moments where I could see no one else on the road in either direction and it felt almost as if the world had ended and I was the last one left alive.
But, if that were true, then there is little purpose to this blog as I already know what I am about to say. So, for the sake of argument (and this blog), I will assume that some of you are still alive and have made it to the end of this paragraph with me.
I did stop at the ball field on the way down, so one of the pics is from there. The others show how the Tampa skyline disappeared under the enveloping fog. They are at the end of the blog … enjoy!
So, anyway, this whole foggy experience gave birth to thoughts on how in life, clarity of our path can often be hampered by events or situations that just descend on us out of nowhere.
Like a fog, they arrive with little notice and suddenly things become more difficult to navigate through. It might be something work related but more often it is a life-happening or health.
Our brains need clarity of thought in order to be able to move forward in life. Whatever goals we are working to are normally only reachable when we know where we are heading and can see the path ahead of us.
So, when things appear from nowhere and begin to fog up our minds, we can stall, get lost, or begin to move in a wrong direction.
Whether the fog is caused by a single big issue or an overwhelming sense of smaller issues happening at the same time, the effect can be the same. So, like the road sign above “Limited Visibility, Use Caution” we need to slow down and become more aware of what is happening around us.
We may have to deal with these issues or we may need to out-wait them, as sometimes these events are within our power to address and other times not.
But, either way, we need to recognize their presence and be careful when they are with us. Make note of the immediate impact of whatever is happening and understand that like real fog, they will dissipate in time.
So, issues that dissipate should never be allowed to take us away from a life-path. They are only temporary and therefore their effect should never be allowed to be permanent.
I have seen people allow a temporary work-emergency to impact their personal life. They get overwhelmed in a work-mode and end up damaging their home relationship or missing major family-related events. Then when the work issue has evaporated, they are still left with the damage or loss of something at home.
Whenever we have limited visibility of our path ahead, we should be careful to not allow this visibility stop us from getting to our destination. We can definitely slow down and watch out for whatever the events are so that their damage is minimized on our life journey.
But we don’t abandon our journey because of reduced visibility. Nor do we go somewhere different.
Life’s journey doesn’t guarantee a fog-free road. It only guarantees an origin and a destination.
Though I slowed down considerably on my drive to Tampa and occasionally became unsure of where I was, I still made sure that I stayed on the road and didn’t end up in Miami.
Yes I would have arrived at my destination in the same state, but once the fog cleared I would have eventually been smacked with the realization that “I’m in Miami Bitch”. Good song, but bad choice.
… just a thought.
