Learning to Drive at 26 Has Taught Me Skills Beyond the Wheel
Overcoming my fear of driving taught me the importance of resilience and how to use it to fight life’s battles.
At 17, I jumped at the chance to learn to drive. All of my friends were also planning on starting driving lessons and I followed suit, not giving much consequence to what it would mean or how much it would add to my already full plate.
At the time, my mum warned me it might be best to wait a few years after I’d done my A-Levels (in the UK this is the stage before university or college) so I could focus on my exams.
Like any teenager, of course, I didn’t listen and wish I had. I ended up spending a lot of money and hours learning to drive and building up to my test, only to realize the anxiety about passing and doing it was too much on top of trying to ace my exams.
So I stopped for a long time. And then I started again. And then I stopped. And then I started again at university and found the perfect instructor, but she had no availability, and let’s face it, I didn’t have enough money.
And then I went 7 years without getting behind the wheel. In all fairness, I didn’t need it. I lived in a city at university and walked everywhere. I then moved to another…
