This past summer I bought a new car, a Toyota Camry, after years of having Honda’s (which we still have). I love getting used to and discovering new things about a car after years of the same old, and one of the things that the car has, as do most cars, is a milage tracker that tells you how far you have to go before you need more fuel.
The Toyota’s dashboard calls it “Distance To Empty,” and I thought that was a little bit of a unique way to think about how we should enjoy and go through everything we experience. It’s a little but different from the great Jackson Browne’s thoughts about “Running on Empty,” or the Eagles “Take It To the Limit” with their burn til the end of the rope ideas (both are also about enjoying the minute over and over again, but the idea of miles to empty is more about the journey than the end I think.
I love, for example, getting my inbox as close to zero as often as I can, or getting things done very early in the day to make sure the level set is done, but those best practices also help look at all the miles we cover and the stuff we need to get done, hopefully most of it in a timely and fruitful manner. As we have said many times, and always it comes up this time of year, is that the only real thing we have is our time, and how we manage all of it fruitfully, and hopefully, joyously. We can rest lots of things, but time doesn’t stop, just like the Miles to Empty” never does.
So as we go through another hopefully fun holiday season, think about that journey a bit, and the “Miles To Empty.” Keep the tank replenished but most importantly look for what’s along the road…it is a great road we can be on, and personally I’m thrilled with what’s ahead for 2023.
