This past Spring, I drove my son to a late-night game in a neighboring state.  Although this is a mere one and half hours’ drive, it was a completely different “world” in terms of the landscape.  It was only hills and valleys with some so steep that I wondered how to push the car literally up the hill.  These were mainly two-lane narrow pathways far from what could be called roads.

It did not help that while we were at the game, the heavens opened with thunderstorm, game was delayed (could not be postponed).  It would be 10 pm by the time we started making our way home.  I was so sure that my GPS will be smart enough to know that:

• it is late,

(b) the road is treacherous and therefore take me through another route but that was not to be. 

I dreaded having to go back through the hills and valleys.  I was practically holding my breath with each slope and the next slope.  I heaved a sigh of relief when we left that city into a more familiar territory with a more familiar levelled landscape. 

Halfway through the dark narrow slopes I got very angry and wondered why we had to go to the game at all.  Who puts a game in another state at 6pm on a Wednesday?  In my anger and frustration, I missed my turn even with the GPS, the hills got higher and the slopes endless.

Later after we got home, I was thinking though the entire trip, reflecting on the whole experience, and my response.  It hit me that navigating the changing landscapes of life can leave us uncomfortable, frustrated, angry and hopeless. Sometimes these changes are unexpected, the slopes can oftentimes be very steep but how we respond makes all the difference. Sometimes we need some guide and help navigating these changes, working with a coach through the changing seasons and landscapes is recommended.