Driving Forward

All roads lead to where you gotta go… or all roads lead to where you want to go. It changes between the two every time I hear it, but the meaning never does. So where did this start? And what’s the relevance to Common Ground? Let’s start with the first question. 

My grandparents are Italian immigrants, they came from Sicily, Italy in the 60’s and built a life here in America. If you’ve ever done one of those DNA tests through Ancestry or 23andMe you’ve probably seen a slew of nationalities sprinkled in your DNA, mine has always been funny. I am exactly 50% Italian (Sicilian), and 50% a bunch of other stuff from my dad. My mom is 100% Italian (Sicilian), literally nothing else. It just funny to see something like that in modern day, and I guess has no relevance to the story besides setting the scene for who my Nonna (grandma) is. 

When you think of older people you may think boring, crotchety, mad at the world, but not my Nonna and Nonno. They are kind spirited, full of life, and love living, even as they near 80 years old, and you would never guess that’s their age and I truly believe it’s because of their “love of the game” per se. I was the first grandchild in my family. My mom still worked a bit before my brother was born so my Nonna would help take care of me. One day she drove me to preschool. I must have been 4 or 5 years old. Quick side note on her driving, she would slightly swerve back and forth, back and forth to put me to sleep while she drove. 30 years later, she still drives like that, but now it makes me car sick. 

Anyway, she decided to take an alternative route, this was before the time of accessible GPS in your car. You just got someplace the best way you knew how, not the fastest or most efficient. Well, that was not good enough for little ole me. I cried and cried, “This isn’t the right way,” “I’m going to be late,” “Where are we going?” “My mom doesn’t go this way!” My Nonna simply said, “Andrew, all roads lead to where you gotta go.” 

30 years later, she has told me that same thing, I’m not kidding, thousands of times. And only recently I have thought about it a little deeper. And it hit me, damn, she’s right. All roads do lead where you want to go, not literally, though I guess also literally if you have infinite time. But more figuratively, eventually you will end up where you want to be all you need to do is “drive”. Some people may need to drive faster than others, but at the end of the day, we all get there. 

Now, I know, it is a privilege to succeed. And everyone’s privilege is different. But that never means it’s impossible. You can take some wrong turns, but you can still end up where you want. And that’s the message I’m trying to send with this post. The message my Nonna has inadvertently instilled in me. Did I take the most direct path to my irl career? Absolutely not. I have a bachelor’s degree in Biology and a MBA and now I work in strategy. I wanted to be a dentist, but look where we are. And yet, I’m happy. I’m able to provide for my family, I have a good work/life balance. And I couldn’t ask for more. Did I take the most direct path to creating Common Ground? Haha, no. I mean, I stopped content for 10 years. I applied to other servers, but nothing felt 100% right. I tried my best, but it wasn’t perfect. But I took a path, and look where we are. 

Content creation has not been easy lately, ask any of us. YouTube is constantly changing, and it can be frustrating at times. The recent view changes are a great example, we’re starting to see our views go up, but everything else remain stagnant. It’s hard to quantify, and it’s harder than ever to keep that spark alive. But I have to remind myself to keep going. I am about 10 months in to my year long journey of posting a full length video every week, I fully intend to finish, and I fully intend to keep going once that year is up. Will I still post every week? Probably not. But there will still be a schedule, a cadence to posts, and honestly, I think it’ll make my videos better. Am I exactly where I wanted to be when I set this goal a year ago? Absolutely not. But I need to, and I will keep going. And I think this could be applied to anything, any goal you have in mind. You may feel thousands of miles away, but every time you press the gas you get a little closer. Remember to believe in yourself, lift others up, and just keep driving because eventually, those roads will lead you where you want to go.