Just Appetizers

The trains in New york come every ten to fifteen minutes when it’s not rush hour and around every 5 minutes when it is.

Up the stairs with the crowds, and down the stairs with the crowds of people. Making sure we shuffled to the train we needed to take.

Nothing else is more frustrating than hearing the sound of the train you need to catch down at the bottom of those thirty stairs and wishing I could fly.

One particular day after we mapped things out and decided where we needed to go, and what trains would take us there we got our metro pass and proceeded to make things happen.

It was rush hour, the stations were filled with people everywhere. Rush hour represents a cattle herd hustling and rushing in one direction to get on that train.

No one sees you. The only thing on their minds are getting on the right train.

There are schedules, connections and the right stops..you have the A line…the C line and so much more.

For our destination on this day we had to be apart of the cattle herd.

We ran down the stairs to get on our train. We went four stops and then had to switch trains. We ran up the stairs then the sound of the oncoming train caused panic as the thought of missing it would really mess up our schedule .

It is was not unusual to see people sprinting, or jogging to get to their train.

As we proceeded to our last train we heard it in the distance, and seen the forerunners go pass us, and we thought “we better run with them.” As we bolted down the stairs and ran towards the train we felt confidence we could catch the train. YES! The forerunners were right in front of us and we were close behind them.

Now the train was in sight and we slowed down and felt such relieve knowing we would not be left behind. The forerunners had gotten to the train right before us.

Suddenly we looked up at to confirm it was our train, and to our surprise we ran all that way for the wrong train.

Panting for air now and gasping we felt so silly for running just because others were. We had been moving towards what we thought was the direction but it was so wrong.

We had lost our way flowing with the bad rush. Here we were moving quickly, maneuvering through the crowds, skipping stairs all n hope of making this train.

How many times in life do we find ourself joining the crowds moving and shuffling along in life only to find out where they are headed we do not want to end up.

The journey started off with focus, information and strategy. Unfortunately our emotions took the lead and we found ourself in the wrong place.

That day as we discovered we were in the wrong place, we felt embarrassed that it was so easy to get distracted from what we knew. We laughed about it once we realized how much confidence we had in those forerunners.

Once you have your mapping complete and time-table charted do your best to move in the right direction.

Avoid following the crowd, or even those who appear to know where they are headed.

Do your best to watch your surroundings, and your emotions. Without any warning we could easily be making decisions based on how someone else appears in their quest to their destination.

Today I use the subway memory as a lesson to pull on and a good moment to laugh at myself:)

Everyone moving may or may not know where they are headed, but it is more important that I move in the right direction for my life.

Have you ever made decisions because others were confident in what they were doing it was easy to convince you? Tell me what happened or how you handled it.