Pit Stop Buddies
It may be a chance meeting, divine synchronicity or as the saying goes, “Two ships that pass in the night.” These encounters happen relatively swiftly and while brief, they are intense. You feel some kind of connection to this person. You may connect in a way that makes you remark, “It feels like we have known each other forever.” It is not only in romantic relationship this type of synergy happens. You and the Pit Stop Buddy could be coworkers, neighbors or participants in similar activities. You hit it off right from the start; so much so, you may begin to think it would be hard to imagine your life without that person. Then the relationship ends as quickly as it began.
You may be left wondering what happened and why. The experience may feel like a roller coaster ride: exhilarating, exciting and . . . over in a flash. Although the Pit Stop Buddy entrance and exit are swift, s/he may leave an indelible mark on you. The swift ending may leave you feeling confused, betrayed or angry.
It is important to allow yourself to feel what you are feeling. Suppressing or denying your feelings can lead to a host of other challenges physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. A good tool to use to sort those feelings out is journaling.
Once you sort those feelings out it is also helpful to do some reflecting and introspection. What did the Pit Stop Buddy bring to your life? What lasting mark did s\he make? Did you learn something new about your self? Did you venture outside of your comfort zone and try something new? You may find it helpful to consider these questions while doing a meditation.
Mile Marker Mates
When you are traveling, there a mile markers along the way that indicate how far you have traveled and how many miles are remaining. For example, the marker may read, “2/12“ which indicates that the road you traveling on is 12 miles long and you have traveled 2 miles thus far. When you get to another road the count begins anew.
As you travel the journey of life, you encounter Mile Marker Mates who are in your life for a span of time. As you travel together, it feels right. It feels good. It is mutually beneficial. Then it ends.
The ending is not abrupt like with the Pit Stop Buddy. The relationship with the Mile Marker is one that runs its course. For example, you may have been close college buddies and once college is over you each go your separate ways to continue the next leg of you journey on different paths.
As much as it may be clear to both of you that it is time to part, it still may bring up difficult emotions. One or both of you may find it hard to accept that your respective journeys are taking you in different directions.
Lifelong Travelers
The Lifelong Traveler is on your journey for 20 years or more. Counted in this group may be your parents, children or siblings. It could also be your spouse, life partner or a childhood friendship that spans into adulthood. These folks have experience the depth and breadth of your journey. They were there for the valley and mountaintop experiences.
Do not be misled by the label however. Lifetime Travelers may at some point no longer be on your path. Of course, it could be the result of a death but it also could be that after two decades or more, the two of you head in different directions.
It is also important not to assume that Lifelong Travelers are better than Pit Stop Buddies or Mile Marker Mates. Conversations with God, the best-selling book by Neale Donald Walsch puts it this way,
“Try not to confuse longevity with a job well done. Remember, your job on the planet is not to see how long you can stay in a relationship. It’s to decide and experience Who You Really Are.”
When you know whether a person on your journey of life is a Pit Stop Buddy, Mile Marker or Lifetime Traveler, you can better experience Who You Really Are within that relationship. In all relationships, you are there to do inner work, to find your authentic self and live out your life journey on purpose.
2 comments:
I find it to be a beautiful experience when I think people are pit-stop buddies and they turn out to be life long travelers. Staying open to other people's development as well as my own seems to be creating beautiful relationship experiences. You never know where the pit-stop buddy is on the way to - maybe the same place as you - just using a different path.
Lately, I've been encouraging people to refresh their perspective on their relationships. I use the anology of updating a website. You look at it and the information on it is old. It isn't useful anymore. It doesn't support your needs. So, you go into the program and make changes. You update images and information - there are new things ahead. The first time I had gone through the process of updating the page it was frustrating because I would go to my web address and find that the page had not changed - it would be the same old useless page. I assumed that the program was defective and had began to look into using another. Then I was reminded to simply hit the refresh button. Ah ha! Everything had worked correctly, I just had to be patient and intuitive enough to recognize that I the environment I was working in needed to be refreshed.
With that, I find that we are all on a journey and constantly changing. I love the idea of feeling that I've grown and that the people around me have grown too. Whatever the reasons may be for the parting of relationships, if those pit stoppers or mile markers happen to re-appear, I like to give the benefit of hitting my inner refresh.
Thanks for the thought stimulating entry!
JL
JL:
What a powerful comment. Your analogy between refreshing your perspective on your relationships to refreshing a web page is dead on! You have given me food for thought as I ponder my own relationships!
Asante sana (thank you very much)!
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