Driving to make a living opened my mind to a different analogy of life. When you’re on the road, you come across a countless number of people. These people may live in the same city as you, or they could be coming from miles away. They could be driving through that route for the first time ever, or it could be their daily route. They could be on their way to a family function, or be on their way to court to get through a divorce.
Whenever I’m on the road, it hits me that there are a whole lot of other people that are trying to get through life, just like me. In the middle of this realization, I begin to see things from a new perspective; connecting events on the road to normal "off-road" life experiences.
On the highway;
There’s almost always that better-looking car that you wish you were rather driving. I connect this to, that friend or colleague that looks as though they’re doing better than you.
There’s the other car that speeds passed you at over 150km/hr - The ones that are actually doing better than you in life.
There are the huge construction and transport trucks. - Those that try to intimidate you with their societal status.
There’s the driver that decides to be slow on the speed lane. - Those that slow you down, and,
There's the police car by the side of the road waiting to pull someone over. - Karma.
At times I assess my life and it feels like I’m not doing well enough. There’s this thought of not measuring up to the level of my mates at that point in time. I could be making arrangements to apply for a job, then I see people I graduated with having full-time jobs. I get the job, then I see those people progressing in their careers.
if you spend too much time admiring others’ success, you really won’t have enough time to build yours
It never seemed like "enough" existed. I was rather focused on how well others were driving.
On one of my road trips, there was this red Corvette that wasn’t moving as fast as I thought it would, so I spent some time admiring it. I must have been lost in my thoughts because it took a honk from the driver behind for me to focus back on the road. At this point, I confirmed what I had known for a while; if you spend too much time admiring others’ success, you really won’t have enough time to build yours.
And depending on how lost you get, you could make it difficult for others as well - or even end up in a situation where it’ll take way too much to fix whatever damage that has been done.
Although there’s nothing wrong with admiring people’s achievement, it’s not healthy to get lost in it. Most times, I’m not even prepared to go through what that person went through to get there. I see the accomplishments, but I don’t see the kind of hard work that was put in to achieve such success. I see the achievements of others, but I don’t see the kind of problems these achievements bring them, and I don’t even see the solutions to those problems.
Whenever I get into this state of mind, I remind myself that I have my own personal problems that need my attention. I remember that I am in charge of getting myself to my destination safely. I mean, everyone has their own lives and their own problems to worry about, and even if there’s a chance the next person could be having the same problems as me, there’s no guarantee that one solution will work for the both of us at the same time.
The best I can do is talk about it with whoever is ready to listen, and hope that the conversation spurs up an idea for a solution. If it doesn’t, I look for someone else to talk to.
A driver speeding passed me can swerve and cut through the two cars on different lanes in front of me to get ahead, but that won’t work for me.
This has taught me that1 life is like a highway; there could be a thousand people on it every hour of the day, but it’s a personal ride.
You may feel you’re not alone because drivers in other lanes are sharing the struggles of potholes and other traffic inconveniences, but the second you get pulled over, or the vehicle develops some malfunction, you understand how and why you’re alone.
This realization has made me even more considerate about others on the road. Letting someone get in your lane or maintaining a safe distance with the vehicle in front of you, would only delay your arrival time by a couple of seconds. We may have our personal destinations, but we all need to arrive safely.
Dey your lane, and be considerate of other road users. Nobody wants to spend more time than they need to, on the road.