There are a few things in life which I realise I am rather late in getting around to. One of those is learning to drive. I started learning when I was 17, but then headed off to university and learning to drive got put on hold. But no longer.
Last year I was determined to get behind the wheel again, and now, I’m certainly getting there. My Mum has been kind enough to put me on her insurance, and so I’ve been heading down the county (where she lives) to get some driving hours in. Beep beep. It is great to on the open road.
However in learning to drive, I realise I am learning much more than just the skill to drive. There are lessons in how I learn, and what I need to let go of to progress.
Learning to drive is making me comfortable with making mistakes. Getting things wrong, I have realised, is so much a part of getting it right. The more mistakes I make, the more I realise I am learning. When I first started driving I was getting very frustrated with myself, wanting to learn quicker and be better, faster. I kept apologising to the instructor every time I erred, and as a result I was saying ‘sorry’ quite frequently. With very patient overtones, he kept telling me to stop apologising, and I kept apologising. It was a habit I’d been in- saying sorry all the time when things are not perfect. I was like a broken record on replay.
But reflecting on this I asked myself, ‘why am I saying sorry for learning? He is there to teach me, I am there to learn’. Once I let go of needing to be prefect the first time round, I started to allow the mistakes to be made and as a result started to progress faster. Beep Beep. This weekend, as I was driving through the countryside, I realised I said sorry on far fewer occasions. This is learning.
And that is not the only lesson. Learning to drive is teaching me patience. I am getting there. I will practice and improve, and I know with some more practice I will get better. It will just take some time, and with that time, things will start coming together.
Plus, learning to drive is teaching me about where I want to go. It feels great to be behind the wheel, and the independent streak in me is thinking about future adventures. I’m happy with my bike in the city. I’m happy to walk and take public transport as much as possible. But just having the skill of driving behind me, I know will take me some more places. This too is a good thing. Beep Beep.
