Stop the World I want to get off was a catch phrase in the 1960’s. That generation used it to say ‘I have to be free. I need to escape. I want a rest from the pressures of life.’  Sound familiar? In retrospect the sixties seem like a rehearsal. Except today there’s more speed, information, people, challenges, opportunities.

Today we hear - Can’t keep up with the changes. Busy all the time. Getting little accomplished. Like Groundhog Day. Too much for our brains. How do we sort through it?

Some find a safe rut. Burrow in. Avoid changes. Keep trudging. Others use Yogi Berra’s playbook – when you come to a fork in the road – take it. Yogi meant whichever road you chose brought you to his house. We are not going to his house. There’s no clear destination. We’re lost. Need to recalibrate our focus. Better find our direction.

An accident jolted my friend, John, out of his rut. He fought it. The rut was comfortable. He knew everyone in the rut. They all liked the same things. No surprises. Outside his rut he had to depend on strangers. He had to make room for the different.

John’s horizons expanded. It’s easy to get into a rut, he says. Harder to get out. For a short time, the rut is cozy. We get to rest. Stay too long and rest turns to rust. We get mired in our own lethargy

His remedy: Start simple. Extend a hand to a stranger. Visit the farmer’s market. Invite your new neighbor for pizza. Do something.

It’s been said the only difference between a rut and a grave is six feet. Our goal is to narrow that six-foot gap. Stay out of the rut. If we fall in - get out fast.

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