The Case for the Rolling Pit Stop

As much as we love racing through life, pit stops are required and should be welcomed. What might come about, what fruit might be yielded if we made a practice of pit stopping? We normally wait until we get to our exit or notice that we are in need, but that should not be the case. Pit stopping should become a normal part of our course. Not just for refueling and bathroom breaks, pit stops give our minds a break from the task at hand and even enable mind-pops, or involuntary "fragments of knowledge" and patternicity ("apophenia" for you fancy psychology types). Introspectively, pit stops have given me great ideas and I have started writing them down for practical encouragement.

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Sadly, I think we miss the value of real-life pit stops because we rarely see the processing, the intrinsic change in direction that results from them in others. I read an article recently about a famous sportswoman taking an unintended pit stop mid-match that reset the trajectory for a recent game. Pit stops frequently go under the radar. Frankly, I think this is why autobiographies sell so well- we are giving people access to guideposts, welcome signs for changes in state, and crashes (forced pit stops). In some sense, counseling sessions are conversations that uncover some of these we may have missed. If we were to trace down life decisions and changes, I'd argue we'd find undocumented pit stops responsible for some of our greatest turning points.

Now while everyone may think of pit stops strictly in the sense of immobility, I am learning to be more comfortable and lean more into what I am terming "rolling pit stops," particularly in the form of pivoting from one high-intensity mental activity to one requiring seemingly less or different intensity. For me, these take the form of driving, running, and walking. Something about moving keeps the mind churning- even if not on the same physical track. Pit stops are not just necessary things; they are great things, healthy things in which we should train ourselves to do. When is your next pit stop? Join the #QuedUpConversation

Photo by Lukas on Unsplash