I woke up this morning with an interesting thought, “We drive our cars the way we live our lives”.
After I finished work yesterday a friend of mine picked me up from Parramatta station in his new car. Ali runs a paining business and has recently purchased a new Toyota Van and was very excited to show it to off to me so he offered to pick me from the station to take me for a drive before dropping be to my house. I wasn’t too keen on it as I knew what was to follow, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings so I accepted his offer.
As I waited on the street for him to arrive, I heard a screeching sound of a car coming towards me around the corner and I knew that was going to be him. I’ve known Ali for the last 15 years out of which his drivers license has been suspended for 6 years for various reckless driving offences. As I hopped in his new van, I could smell the freshness of the new car mixed with hint of tobacco and I leaned to the dash to look at the milage, the speedometer read 215 kilometers… Yep it sure was brand spanking new.
I knew to quickly fasten my seatbelt as I knew Ali well and the ride was doing to be very scary to say the least. Throughout the ride, Ali managed to never maintain the speed limit, failed to stop at some red lights and often forgot the fact that he was driving a van not a rally car on the race tracks. One hour later, I thanked God that I had reached home safely as my heartbeat was resting close to 120 beats per minute. (the average being 72).
Ali’s life has been very extreme form a very young age. Although a very kind and humble person ever since the school days he had a rebellious reputation as he always struggled to find a way to channel his energy constructively. He has always struggled to maintain a balanced life with many broken relationships, inconsistent work, lack of direction and discipline and ill health. Observing the way he drives one can make a clear correlation to the way he manages and drives his life.
Although Ali is a very extreme example, I challenge you to think about the people that you know and look at the way they drive their car and reflect that to the way they live their lives. Another example is my father, a person that has never had a driving offence in the 25 years he has been driving; he always follows every rule and is extra careful in the way he drives. He always plans his trips, he always gives way to people, he always wears his seat belt and is highly thoughtful and compliant. His life is very much the same. Infact in every aspect of his life he follows every rule and is another excellent example of this theory.
The way we live our lives, the way we do things, the way we handle challenges, they all reflects the kind of person we are. Not giving way to others shows that we are selfish. Not following the laws on the road means we are disobedient. Driving also exposes one’s heart. If a person always swears, he is sure to do it on the road which reminds me of the old saying, “the chains of bad habits are too thin to be noticed, until they are too strong to be broken.”
There are some aspects of our behavior that are inherent and are difficult to modify or change and my biggest advice to anyone would be to dig deep into yourself and understand all aspects of yourself and then based on the facts of who you are, manage your life accordingly to achieve optimum success. I am the best example of this, A few years ago I decided to stop driving as I too was a little like my friend Ali. Although I am a very good driver, at times I allowed the excitement and adrenalin take control of my driving and cause determent to myself. So the best decision for me was to stop driving and I haven’t regretted my decision the slightest bit. Infact a whole new world opened to my as I found more time to read books and think freely without the stress of traffic and road rage and I’ve fallen in love with Sydney’s public transport and have never really had the need to drive or own a car and I’ve never looked back on my decision.
So I challenge you to take some time to think about who you are and I encourage you to manage your life in a way that is most beneficial to you.
John Singh
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