Last Monday, I was walking along Session Road and I noticed something new. There were lines dividing the sidewalk and a set of letters painted that reads, “Keep right.”
I’m happy that we now have those lines and letters. It reminds people walking to stay on the right.
For someone like me who prefers to walk most of the time, I usually experience a congested sidewalk particularly in Session Road. What worsens the congestion is that whether you’re going up or down, there are lots of people you could possibly bump whether you walk on the left or on the right. At times, you would also meet a file of five people walking side by side that they already occupy 80% of the walkway.
To ‘keep right’ is just right and to stay on your lane is an apt reminder for all of us. Not just in walking along Session Road or other sidewalks but also in life.
Tons of temptations come along the way and there are times that we get sidetracked and we go to the left. But we are reminded today to get back on track, continue walking and keep right. This applies whether we are walking in the walkway of Session Road or in the walkway of life.
But I’d like to add another line: Keep going. Thus, keep right and keep going!
They say, even if you are on the right track if you are not moving, you’ll get run over. Now that’s fatal! So we need to keep going.
Experiment this. Walk along Session Road then suddenly stop somewhere and just stand there. People might shout at you or just bump you. Or you might be charged with obstruction of pedestrian flow. (Just my imagination. Try that in the court of law.)
Just as keeping right is, to keep going is also important whether you are walking in the walkway of Session Road or in the walkway of life.
When you are going somewhere and you keep on stopping for undue reasons, you will be wasting lots of time. Consider your car, it would consume more fuel than normal because of the stopping and the need to accelerate, then stop and accelerate, and stop and accelerate once again to keep pace with the acceptable speed. Translated to other life situations, if you don’t keep going, you would lose time, resources and opportunities.
Surely, there is the need to slow down and stop at times. We need rest and we need to stop somewhere for some reasons but we need to get back on the roll and keep going.
Recall the story of the rabbit and the turtle. The latter won because he followed that simple instruction, “keep going.”
To keep going is to keep life moving. It is vital to maintain momentum and to do so is to keep going. Think of a student who drops out for a year and tries to go back, it would be a bit difficult to start again because the momentum he had last year was lost.
To keep going is to bring in the magic of momentum. And momentum multiplies the output from the usual one. But take note that this magic works like a double-edged sword, negative or positive. So yes, keep going but stay on the right track. With this, you and I will arrive at the place where we want to go and achieve what we are aiming for in time.
Next time you walk along Session Road or walk along life’s road, remember to keep right and keep going!
(Chris Dao-anis/CPA, as an author and speaker, helps aspiring and young professionals become better communicators and leaders. He teaches soft skills to hard-skilled technical people. His first book ‘The Gift of the Ordinary’ is available at Mt. Cloud Bookshop, Casa Vallejo, Upper Session Road, Baguio City and in Central Bookstores (Cebu and Metro Manila). For seminars and resources, visit www.chrispoweracademy.com or email chrisdaoanis@ymail.com.)
