The Pause

I am grateful for the breaks in momentum, where you pause for a moment, look around, and make sure you’re still on the right path.

It’s like swimming for me.

When my head is down, and I’m moving forward, I can’t see forward, I can’t breathe, and there is water in my ears.

While I can go for a while, reasonably comfortable in the knowledge I’m going in the right direction, every now and then I also have to stop, look up, and make sure that direction is the correct one.

Once I’m reassured I’m still headed towards my destination, I can put my head down and forge forward.

I need that same kind of break in the rest of my life as well.

I sometimes need to stop, evaluate my direction, and then get back at it.

It’s important to do what needs to be done, to take massive action in the right direction, and then pause and evaluate that you’re still headed where you should go.

As you start moving forward towards whatever goal you have set, you should stop and reevaluate your progress and destination.

You may realize that what you thought you should do, and did, was right at the time, and got you to where you are today. But upon some simple reflection, incorporating what you have learned on your journey, you may realize what got you here, won’t get you to the next level. It just won’t get you there.

So, like a swimmer who has had his head down for too long, you have to adjust, course correct, and set your new destination.

This is OK. A good thing even.

All the time and effort you’ve put in up to this point has gotten you here, where you now know you have to course correct.

This is the power of the pauses, the breaks, the moments that allow you to reevaluate, and recommit to where you are going. So don’t be afraid to take them.

The other thing about pauses is what I wrote in everyone’s yearbook back in high school, which I quote from the character ‘Ferris Bueller’ in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’:

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.