A funny thing happened as we were driving through Nevada down the “Loneliest Highway”. As I was staring down the road for what seemed like endless miles, off in the distance I saw something. The road appeared to be turning into water straight ahead of us. As I focused more intensely, wanting to make sure to keep Zeke, Gipzee and the family in a safe place, the water seemed to never get closer. After a few minutes, I came back to reality and realized it was an optical illusion. It was kind of like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. I think Bugs called it a “miragee”. As the miles passed by in my rear view mirror, the “water” staying safely off in the foreground, something occurred to me. This “miragee” was much like life.
In the background, the kids were playing the soundtrack to “The Greatest Showman”. The song that was on “Never Enough”. The lyrics are impactful.
All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the nightsky
Will never be enough
Never be enough
As the idea of the “miragee” and the lyrics of the song mingled together in my head I had an internal HUH moment. How many people are heading full speed down the desert highway of life. Chasing the promise of water ahead. But no matter how fast they go. No matter how far down they press the accelerator. No matter how hard they try – they cannot seem to reach the rest and peace that the water ahead promises to provide them? In the meantime, they miss the beauty that surrounds them. The mountains. The trees. The flowers, rivers and lakes. The wildlife. Chasing the “miragee”.
Pulling stars from the sky in hopes that they can change their personal stars. Whatever that means. Goal after goal. Accomplishment after accomplishment. Next after next. Never finding fulfillment. On a never ending quest to add more stars to the collection. but never recognizing the beauty of the collection. I know that I was on that path. And just like in the movie, I was passing the insanity off as “doing it for the family”. But when “the family” has everything it ever wanted, except you, or me – hopefully we realize something.
Becoming a CTO of a $110 million company. Creating really great teams of people who were able to accomplish really great things. Putting in tons of hours. Never being “unavailable”. All to change our stars. To give my wife and kids the world. It became a “miragee”. Each accomplishment was quickly followed by, “what’s next?” Never enough.
Don’t get me wrong. I am all about going full speed toward your dreams. Toward giving 100% to your calling. But, if your calling becomes your god, you have a problem. The calling is ever evolving. And when you get where you are going – you want more. You get to the “top” and realize you have just scratched the surface. It is a crazy thing to love – and I have only done it at a small scale.
Success is relative. What is huge to one person is tiny to those who already have it. When you get to the next level, you want to keep going. And if you aren’t careful, you leave what is important behind. You forget to embrace the beauty of now and wake up 10 years later with a bunch of accomplishments but no memories that matter. No stories matter.
Change your stars. Chase your dreams. Accomplish your goals. But don’t chase a “miragee”. Don’t forget to appreciate the stars you pulled from the night sky. Make sure that what you are chasing is what matters most. Love.