The past few days our family went to disconnect from busy schedules to explore a new place for us, Bentonville, AR. A long weekend swimming, hiking, playing games, and eating outdoors was exactly the road trip recipe our family needed before heading back to school later this month.
On the ride back home, the kids were entertained with their electronics, and my wife was handling some work situations, so it was me, the windshield, and some country music. Luke Combs, one of my favorite artists, popped on the radio with his song Better Together. As I start singing along, and I use the term singing very loosely, my wife started to join in. A few seconds later I heard my son start singing from the back and soon it was the three of us (no way my daughter was putting aside her electronic game of Hearts to sing) in perfect harmony with Luke belting out the words to Better Together. I couldn’t help but sit there and smile in the moment.
Sometimes life blesses us with moments of perspective. In my mind these few minutes of the family joining in singing a pretty awful (but great to us of course) rendition of Luke was in a way a microcosm of our journey. I was enjoying the road ahead and great music on my own but when I was able to share this moment with others, the richness and fulfillment skyrocketed. One song and one moment reinforcing such an important perspective we need in our journey – understand on our own we can have a great ride but one of the ways to create an even more fulfilled journey is doing it with those that mean something to you. Now if music experts were sitting in our car they may not agree with the idea of us three singing together is necessarily “better together” but us belting out that song was a few minutes of pure joy for me.
I’ve heard plenty of times in motivational speeches about the importance of self-reliance. The theme centers around in our journey there’s only one person I can rely on and it’s me. I understand where the message is intended to go centering around the importance of starting within to build the inner strength to take on the challenges life will present. No doubt building strength within and self-reliance is critical because we constantly face moments alone where we need to drum up the strength to make the right decisions and stay on the path of discovering what we’re capable of becoming.
But if we think our journey is meant to be single lane only, we’re missing so many of the Accelerators around us that are ready to help elevate our experiences and journey. We’d be missing the person in our neighborhood that showcases the model of what it means to help lift others up to grow and strengthen the community. We’d be missing the coach that helps us grow well beyond just the sport itself. We’d be missing the family member or friend that sees the best in us even when we’re at our worst.
Strength within is critical in our journey but never lose sight of the importance of bringing others in. The experiences in life become so much richer and fulfilled when we let others in on the journey and truly showcases how we are better together. Never lose sight of the ones that make this journey in life special. While we may only have seasons with some and lifetimes with others, we’re all better when we can enjoy the rollercoaster of life together. Cheers and thank you to all those incredible people that have made my journey so far such a blast – it’s been better together.
Some things just go better together and probably always will
Like a cup of coffee and a sunrise, Sunday drives and time to kill
Whats the point of this ol’ guitar if it ain’t got no strings?
Or pourin’ your heart into a song that you ain’t gonna sing?
It’s a match made up in heaven, like good ol’ boys and beer
And me as long as you’re right here
Take your step: life hits us with random moments of perspective. The next time you feel the gratefulness of having someone by your side that makes your journey more fulfilled and richer, let them know. Take a moment internally and externally to express gratitude, realizing we’re better together.