Road Banana

by Kris Pitcher

There are days when we are on auto pilot. I mean, complete auto pilot. Did I stop at that sign? What did my boss just say to me? Who's picking up the kids? We have kids?

Mental focus goes out the window as we become more stressed, get less rest and often aren't getting the recovery we need in spirit or body. We seem to be over-loaded, and by all means we are over stimulated. We have information at the touch of our fingers, and we are connected 24/7.

This hasn't made us more focused. It's made us more frazzled. I am highly routined. I require my schedule, a very organized schedule because my day is quite full. Those of you who know me, know that I work 10 hour days and do my training on top of that. This requires me to stick to my schedule in order for everything to get done.

Some days when I leave the house at 6:30am, I wonder...did I stop at that sign? I remind myself I need to remain present in the moment, to focus on what I'm doing right now rather than think about the hundreds of things I need to get done during the day.

This leads me to road bananas. Now, you may live in a climate where road bananas are commonplace. The Inland Northwest is not one of them. So, as I was driving to get gas early one morning and I saw a road banana I realized, we are not focusing.

Around 10:00am that morning someone would be looking for their snack. They would check all around their desk, look in their bag...no banana. It wouldn't be anywhere in sight because they'd left it on top of their car as they drove away from their house.

Sure, road coffee cups are common...but I've rarely seen a banana. This person was going to miss their fruit. If we are leaving things on our car tops, we are in a big hurry to get out of the house. We are unfocused, in a rush and off schedule.

We live on auto pilot. It just makes me think we should consider disconnecting (after you read Fitness Bliss) now and then. It makes me think we don't need every facebook notification on our phone, every email, or every tweet. Maybe not all the time.

I hope you'll slow down this weekend, even just for a little while. Be outdoors, enjoy the people in your life...and even eat a banana.