I was listening to a podcast this weekend and heard an analogy that I thought was great. The host said that politics is like a bus. It’s likely that one candidate will not align with every single stance you take on every single issue. The perfect candidate (which could likely only be yourself) would be an Uber. It drops you right where you want to be. But without the option of an Uber, you hop onto the bus that gets you closest to your desired destination.
I’m not going to talk about politics. But I do think that most things in this world are more like a bus than an Uber. Especially shopping. Shopping for absolutely anything. Big ticket items are kind of obvious. When you are buying a house, you may have to sacrifice on some of your wish list (perhaps location or price) in order to gain something else on your wish list (perhaps a fireplace and a garage). The likelihood of getting everything you want at the price you can manage is not great. The same thing probably happened when you were choosing your law school. Maybe the greatest professor you wanted to learn from was at a school where you didn’t love the rest of the curriculum, so you got on the bus that got you closest to where you wanted to be. It’s less obvious in smaller purchases. Perhaps the tomatoes you like best at your local grocery store are too expensive or come in too small a package. You may have to pay more, sacrifice quality, or buy multiple packages to get closest to where you want to be.
Life is a never-ending series of bus rides (sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally). You almost never find that unicorn Uber that takes you to the exact place you want to be. You’ll make sacrifices in one area to make gains in another. But that bus ride will teach you so many things along the way, and make you truly appreciate how close you are getting to your goal destination.
Life is like a bus. Enjoy the ride!
