Life Is Like a Moving Sidewalk

I’ve been through many iterations of life philosophy. First was pushing. Got a goal? Well it ain’t gonna happen for ya. You have make it happen. Plan out how you’re gonna get there and execute. Obstacles will come. Don’t let that keep you down. Press on. Push.

Then came my pull philosophy. The universe is working tirelessly for your benefit. Don’t get in it’s way! Something not working out for you? Well, it’s probably not meant to be then. Meditate, listen to the world. It’s pulling you in the direction you need to go. All you need to do is pay attention to the signs.

I’ve focused intensely on both of these perspectives at times, but neither one has lead me where I’m looking to go. A month ago, I was at the Las Vegas airport just before COVID-19 went haywire. I hopped on a moving sidewalk to get to my gate a little faster. After decades of intense devotion to self-improvement, I’m proud to say I’m not easily annoyed. But it annoys the crap out of me when I see someone standing on a moving sidewalk!

REALITY CHECK: I have totally stood on a moving sidewalk before.

This time my moving sidewalk experience transcended mere destination efficiency goals. It became a metaphor for life. There was something immensely satisfying about walking at maximum pace while simultaneously having the contraption push me along at roughly a 2x speed. Push and pull. In the same direction. I was pushing myself at the socially-accepted-maximum walking speed, but the pull of the travelator (yep, that’s another name for it) enabled me to progress much faster.

There’s life again. Staring me in the face from a slotted piece of metal. Much can be said in defense of pushing—setting goals and executing on a plan. Much can be said for pulling—listening to the universe and following the signs. Together, however, they might just hold the golden ticket we’re looking for.

The only trick is you have to find the moving sidewalk. They’re not everywhere. We spend a lot of time walking through life without feeling that pull. It takes a lot of courage to be truly honest with yourself and look for your own autowalk (yet another name for the mechanism). It might not be exactly where you thought it was. It might not take you exactly where you thought you were going. But nothing beats the feeling of walking in the same direction life is pulling you.

For me, the moving sidewalk of life has pulled me to Las Vegas, a city I never thought I would have moved to. But thanks to a girlfriend who grew up here, no traffic, no mosquitoes, no humidity and no taxes, here I am unpacking boxes while I stare out our back window at the beautiful desert mountains. While I felt the unexpected pull to move here, it took a lot of pushing to make it happen. We started looking at houses last summer and even backed out of a contract on what we thought was our dream home. We stopped pushing. We waited for the pull again. Then early this year we found the perfect house for us. Thus began more pushing. Flash forward two months, two moving vans, and a cross-country road trip and here we are.

It’s easy to freak out after you’ve felt the pull and started pushing. Did I push too hard? Was that really life’s pull? The day we arrived we met some lovely neighbors who had moved from Nashville a few years earlier. The next day we met another neighbor while walking our Great Pyrenees Lambert who is deeply entrenched in the personal growth community like we are. He invited us to join a mastermind group he’s part of and plug us in to a group of amazing folks who share our values. All in less than 24 hours!

When you step off a moving sidewalk there’s that moment when your balance is dicey. You question your next step. But then you land securely on solid ground. That much closer to your destination. It feels really good.