Getting a car is like a rite of passage into adulthood. It gives you more independence as an individual, because you no longer have to rely on anyone to take you where you need to go. Where I live, getting a license as soon as legally able followed by getting a car is a common thing. Throughout all my years of high school, almost every single senior and junior at my school had a car. Notice how I said almost. That’s where I come in.

I’ll admit, I was late to the party on getting my permit, let alone my license. I waited until a year after I was legally able to obtain a license to even apply for a driving permit. I got my license the third day of my senior year of high school, and I was so excited to get a car and be able to drive myself to school and to people’s houses and events. That night I asked my dad when I could get a car. If you paid attention to the title of this article, you probably know exactly what his response was.

The thing that really got me about that was that he didn’t flat out just say I couldn’t get one, he told me that I could have a car when I could afford one. So basically, I’m waiting until I’m thirty to have a car and I’m going to have to bum rides off of my mom until then.

If you are in any sort of similar situation, never fear! There are ways to cope and I promise you, you will make it through the year without a car just fine. (These totally aren’t just crappy reasons I came up with to help me cope with my own bitterness).

The first thing that you have to realize is that it’s honestly better for the environment that you don’t have a car and that you have to share rides with others. Traveling with several people in one car to get to one destination versus every single individual person driving consumes a lot less gas and is more economical.

The second thing you have to realize is that one day, eventually, you’ll probably get a car, and because you waited longer to buy one, you’ll most likely have a nicer car. This is due to the fact that if you wait long enough, model years 2008 and above cars will decrease in value, making them easier for you to afford and buy. While they may not be the flashiest cars around town, they’re most likely safer and comfier than if you settled for something predating the 2000s. Here I come 2009 Toyota Rav4!

The third thing is it’s really not the end of the world. At most colleges, you’re not allowed to have a car on campus as a freshman, so after this year your theoretical car would sit and do nothing for four to five months at a time. And that’s just waste of a good vehicle.

Hopefully someone somewhere is in the same situation I was in, and learns something from this. It was really hard for me to suck it up when I was a senior, because everyone around me had a car, including people who were younger than me, and it really ground my gears. To this day, I still don’t have a car, and I have no idea when or if I’ll ever be able to get one. But it’s just life – I will get a car when the time is right, and so will anyone dealing with the same issues I am. Here’s to hoping no one reading this ever has to bum rides off of other people for the rest of their life!