Steering through fear

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2025 was such an eventful year indeed for me. I had really big dreams for this year, and by now I had hopes of owning a car, but guess what? We are just a few days from another year, and I do not even know how to drive yet.

The other day I was on the phone with my friend, and she told me she was driving. I knew she was on a date night, but then she went with an Uber, so at what point was she driving, I wondered.

I ended the call and texted, enquiring where the car came from. And she was like, 'Ohh, her date went to make reservations, and while he was at it, he gave her the keys to go find a good spot and park.' In her words, he threw the key at me and said, 'You know what to do lol.' It was funny because if that was me, I certainly wouldn’t know what to do, and he would either tip a staff member to do the parking or probably do it himself before the reservations.

While my friend and I laughed briefly at my unfortunate joke, we ended the conversation with her advising me to learn how to drive; according to her, she never learnt, although she is a gamer and mostly gets invested in car races and games infused with them.

She said that gave her an idea of what to do, plus she was also watching people drive even on public buses; she’s always in the front seat just to see how the driver does it. So one day her man asked her if she could drive, and then she said yes. Towards this time she had never driven a car before, but she knew that was a test to get her started, and just from that moment she became a pro driver. You see, whenever my friend tells the story of her driving to me, I always applaud her. This time around she included swimming in the story and said she never learnt it. She just got into the water and knew she had to float.

At this moment listening to my friend, it becomes clear where my problem lies, which has been the same reason I have never really considered learning how to drive. I get really scared of the road. I get scared of driving side by side with a trailer and even overtaking them. I get scared of not knowing the right turn and probably driving in the wrong lane. All this thought of the worst that could happen on the road has always limited my zeal to learn how to drive, and then I’d often ask, 'If I have a car now with this fear lingering, how will I drive it?'

Well, my friend confirmed my woes, as she said she has never been scared to try out anything her whole life, as she knows it's either she succeeds or she fails, and even if she dies trying, at least she made an attempt. I really do admire my friend’s perspectives, a lot of which have motivated me to let go of my fears and take the whole driving thing seriously.

I mean, if I wanted to get a car, I should first know how to drive, right? Well, the year is almost ending, and I have shifted my driving lessons till next year, but before then, I’d be watching some YouTube videos on the theories of and lessons on driving as suggested by my friend. At least with the knowledge of and lessons on driving, I bet the practical would become easier.