Drive Safe: I Understand

I understand driving can be scary, intense and you might not always be getting on the road with the clearest mind. All of us have so many thoughts and decisions in one single day. I’ve heard it’s close to 34,000 decisions. Let’s be honest, nobody can hold the standard of perfection, and not many people can master a skill after one year of training. Not many people are meticulously calculating every decision they make either. The same is true when we get behind a wheel. While these statements are true, the way we drive affects others and the way they live. The standard of intentionality and skill is elevated. Many of us will have to drive in our lifetimes so that we can get to where we need to, that is why being intentional when you drive is so important, because the lives of you and those around you are valuable and precious and our decisions in all things have an impact.

Hurry ruins a lot of things in my opinion, that heart rushing feeling where you feel it in your shoulders and neck is something I like to steer clear from in all aspects, especially when I am equipped with a 5000 pound weapon. Hurry can steal our joy and cost us our lives. In a culture of microwave meals and instant ability to do so many things, it can be easy to get caught up in the current. Social media runs constantly, there’s always a new trend, new pressure to have the new thing or to make things happen quicker. My encouragement is to take a deep breath or 5 or 6 before you make that move, do the thing and even get in that car. Don’t go in there if you are tired, out of your mind stressed or unable to focus due to an external temptation. So many of us see driving as a right and it is, but it’s not one to take lightly. Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. I realize as I look around that so many lives are either inconvenienced or lost due to hurry, even when it comes to drinking and driving or texting and driving. That little lie that sits below the surface that says “I need to go get where I need to right now”, mixed with intoxication is so costly. The lie of “if I don’t respond faster, they’re not gonna like me” is not any different. It breaks my heart, but it’s so common to rush into everything now. If you feel the tension to rush to the next place to not be late, or even to be the first to get your driver’s license in your class, my hope is that you read this and realize you have the strength to make that voice become really quiet.

As a young person in the United States of America, I have to say I am guilty of this rushing mindset. I also am only the age of 18 which comes with a lack of fully knowing through many years of experience how to predict cars. I have truthfully been in a minor accident. A part of it was an attempt to not be in someone else’s way combined with that rushing feeling I was talking about earlier. First, it is never necessary to go before you are ready, even if it confuses someone else.Second, I am so grateful that both myself and the other person were protected and safe and no airbags were even needed. What a blessing! With this being said though, it still did happen and had repercussions. When I talked to the close people in my life, they said that in one way or another, they had experienced an accident of some kind as well. It broke my heart to know that is so common, but also draws me to want to take action and remind whoever is reading this to slow down.

I hope this theme carries out in other areas of your life as well, to make you a more whole, safer and more joyful person. It’s funny how sometimes when we slow down, we get more done and the quality is immensely better since we’re less stressed about how it gets done. I hope you can slow down when life is overwhelming and stop to look around at things like the birds, the trees, and the people around and remember who you were made to be. I truly hope you will take the time to learn before you get out there and take it seriously. While you are learning how to drive, keep in mind, the way you drive can affect how you and others live. There’s so many places to see and people to meet and I care for you too much to let you go live and drive in a hurry and lose something so valuable, you. Drive safe.