Life is a Highway

I was sitting in the back of my car today, travelling on my regular route, and I couldn’t help but terribly miss the feeling of being behind the wheel.

I recently suffered an ankle injury that has left me unable to do so much as walk straight, much less drive safely (we’re recovering quick though!). Among the many things I miss doing, driving is pretty high up on my list. So I figured we’d relive those moments by writing about them.

There are quite a few reasons I love driving so much-

• Freedom – of course. Driving has been like a superpower unlocked and now all of a sudden you have a thousand more cool tricks under your sleeve. I am no longer bound by others’ time and availability to do what I love doing. I can schedule more stuff into my day, like going to the gym at 5am in the morning.
• Feeling in charge – not just when it comes to getting to places, but also, in life as a whole.
• It’s a skill I have developed- and I love being able to level up with absolutely anything in life.
• Driving with family/ friends- I would forever be grateful for all the times I get to do this. Having people I love sit in the car, jamming together to all kinds of songs, driving just for the sake of the drive with no real destination in mind, I have created memories that I will never take for granted.
• Driving alone- while having company is total fun, but there are long drives every now and then where I would not trade the solitude for anything else. Sometimes I put up songs I would probably not listen to with other people around, or I would listen to a podcast. Sometimes I’d even drive in silence, listening to the humming of the car. These drives are pure therapy.
• Introspection – particularly when I am alone. I do not have the ability to describe it with the eloquence of a poet, but something about driving on new roads for the first time, looking around at the buildings, taking unfamiliar turns, shortening distances to people and places, it all helps putting things in perspective. I appreciate life a lot more because of these seemingly normal experiences.

I also feel that there are little things in life we become so used to that we slowly forget how to enjoy them. If only we could look at everyday things with the excitement and awe of a first time experience, we’d be so much more fulfilled. I truly have started to live by this realisation, which is why I do not shy away from showing almost child-like excitement for things I really love (my friends would confirm). Every single bite of a good meal makes me want to thank life for its beauty. I deeply thank every single person who ever shows up in my life with the littlest act of kindness.

I digress. In the end, I’d just mention how learning to drive has come with its little caveat. As confident and in control I feel in the driver’s seat, I have started dreading the passenger seat. I remember when I was learning some time back, I was once sitting with papa in the car, and I jumped up screaming ‘careful papa, we are too close to that other car’ (something like that I do not remember exactly what it was lol). Papa smiled and said ‘this means you’re learning.’ The more I have gotten used to my way of driving, the harder I find it to silence my instincts when others don’t drive the way I would. I guess it comes down to trusting people. We’re improving on that front.

P.S.- the title is a reference to the song Life is a Highway by Rascsal Flatts, from the movie Cars. Yes, I am a kid stuck in an adult’s body but this movie and its soundtrack holds a place in my heart that will never ever be replaced by anything else.