Floating around on the tide of life is not a state of being my wife and I value

Another example would be driving with the flow of traffic on a major highway, or driving against the traffic @galenkp. It might be possible to drive in the opposing direction of traffic, at least on a motorcycle, but isn't nearly as safe, effective or efficient as following the general flow of our environment (I.e. The direction of traffic).

There is still room to speed up, slow down and change lanes (when we drive in the right direction on a major Highway) but I still think it's good to use the overall direction of life to our advantage, as opposed to fighting it tooth and nail.

Having said that, I do suspect that you use the flow of life to your advantage, but we might express our ideas differently - I am a big believer in being friends with life, as opposed to seeing it as an enemy.