I am a student. I am just about to turn 16. My driving test is in just a few days, and this thought crossed my mind: "Do I even know how to parallel park?"

Despite having attended all 30 hours of Basic Driver's Education and completing all the required supervised driving (which did require that I park in parallel a few times) I'm still unsure if I really know how to parallel park. So I did what any other teen might do — I Googled it.

And in doing so, I came across a wave of people very passionately affirming that I (or whoever was reading the explanation of this simple driving maneuver) would be able to execute it flawlessly as long as we:

1. Followed the instructions exactly.

2. Didn't second guess ourselves.

So no, I do not know how to parallel park— not yet. I know how to park in parallel while vaguely recalling a set of steps I read online and second guessing myself frequently.

Why should I bother playing this stupid word game with myself? Both approaches to parking get the job done, and with time the anxieties will fade and the later technique will be virtually indistinguishable from the first. Talking through these very minute differences helps to identify whatever characteristics are negatively affecting a situation and provide a fuller understanding of the issue at hand. And yes, it may be a soft science, but when executed by a skillful hand with a goal in mind you can be brought closer to success.

And what's my goal? Is it to understand, to know, to have confidence in how to parallel park? No. All I need to do for now is pass my driving test, and I can do that very comfortably by putting on a mask of confidence as I very vaguely recall a set of steps I read online while second guessing myself frequently, because for whatever reason having an understanding of the situation in general is easier than changing the situation itself.

If and when the day comes that I execute what I imagine to be a true parallel park — one which comes naturally and without self-doubt of any kind — I probably won't even realize it. I will be too busy trying to remember how to do other things with their own sets of very specific instructions, and at the same time trying to remember the advice which is key in a situation such as that: "don't second guess yourself".

I am, and will always be, a student — learning how to do things which countless people before me have learned to do and have done. The techniques used have varied from person to person, but I, individually, can only really use one. Whatever happens happens, but I'm pretty confident that I'll pass my driver's test.