Driving a vehicle is an analogy for living life

Jasen Williams
Teen Columnist, The Friday Flyer

Driving: some are excited for it. Some are scared of it. Some are uncaring. Some are a strange mixture of all three. But whatever, it is certainly memorable.

I can’t tell you how hard I laughed at my friends’ stories of their experiences or, even funnier, their parents’ stories.

I started my practice driving – and then I didn’t laugh so hard. Something of a nervous cackle more aptly describes it. It’s a bit strange because you realize three things:

First, you realize that you will never hear your parents scream or bellow in terror more loudly than when you approach a stop sign 20 meters away at 50 miles per hour.

The sooner you face it the better: it takes time. Whether it is merging lanes to parking to timing the stopping right, everyone has something they need to practice when they first start learning to drive.

As I’ll discuss later, the calmer and more level-headed you are about what to do when driving, the easier it is to draw on the wealth of experience in the passenger seat. The real challenge is getting your siblings to stop looking at you with eyes as big as satellite dishes or (if they are smart like my sister) asking you to take them to Starbucks.

Second, after the initial white-knuckling, it’s surprising to discover that the whole thing isn’t rocket science. It’s really the kind of thing that takes a bit of time and practice to get the hang of. Start off slowly; then work your way into the neighborhood, town and then freeway. Once you get the mostly common sense rules of the road down, things become much easier.

Even bigger vehicles are not that much of a challenge. I went from driving a Mini Cooper to a Ford F-150 with minimal learning curve (the Ford was more fun). It’s really like riding a horse: each one has a different personality and quirk about it. Depending on the car, one kind will accelerate really quickly while another turns more easily – easy thing to adjust to.

Finally, driving is actually based in common sense. You change lanes when you need to get past something. You need to have certain documents to drive and to get into certain areas. During a long period of driving, you need to refresh your supply of fuel. In the occasion that you run into a dead end, you have the option to go to the right, left or back.

Also, you always need to be aware of what is happening with the other drivers – are they weaving aimlessly or do they seem to be a steady driver? While on a long journey, you need to know when to pull over and rest. When interacting, don’t jerk from one area to another; smoothly turn and integrate.

If an accident happens in front of you or a bad driver infringes on your lane, you simply need to either avoid or stay put, depending on the situation.

In your car, you have to pay attention to the passengers but not let them distract you. Spending any substantial amount of time on your phone and not paying attention to what is happening will end you up in trouble. If you don’t take an opportunity to get into a lane, it might be too late. Occasionally you need to turn on the heat if things are chill, or turn on the cooler when things are too hot.

For the car itself, you will want to keep an eye on its condition, referring to an experienced mechanic regularly. By keeping a good record and insurance, you can continue to drive without hindrance.

Now that I have given a bag of things to keep in mind with a car, let’s drop the car façade and look at what we are really trying to figure out: life.

Each and every line after the one starting with “Finally” can be read to represent a different area of life. Sometimes we go through life and need to move into another season, like we teenagers do from high school to college or work.

Other times, we need to break from working hard and refresh ourselves with the right kind of fuel; whether it be reading, exercise or friends. If an opportunity ends, you might need to turn in one direction or backtrack. Or, when an opportunity in a lane of your life opens up, take advantage of it so that it doesn’t disappear, causing you to miss it!

On and on the analogies go. So for the sake of your creativity and patience, I will let you come up with the others. I needn’t even clarify all of mine, since you will take from it what you need. But please keep in mind that things are much more interwoven than we imagine, and they can literally reveal truths if we will but consider them.