You don't know what you're missing out on until you know what you're missing out on, right? Right.
One of the most exciting things we anticipate as kids growing up is being able to drive. Getting your permit and then getting your license and getting your car - doesn't matter the car because at the end of the day, a car is a car and it is going to get you to and from wherever, whenever. And being able to drive who you want, when you want, and where you want. As kids, we didn't really pay attention to the price of gas, so the world was our oyster, and it still is, I'm just saying that when money wasn't an aspect in freedom, the world was an even bigger, brighter oyster.
I was that kid who had what was considered an "early" birthday amongst some of my peers. But, I was also that kid who saw the process of obtaining a permit, as a chore. Therefore, I procrastinated Driver's Education as if I was getting paid to do so. I procrastinated Driver’s Ed until I was not allowed to do anything without having done at least a chapter that day. Nonetheless, I finished it, just a few months shy of turning seventeen. So, it was a delayed permit, to say the least, but isn't there a saying that goes a little something like better late than never?
The day I got my license, the words freedom, and escape became one.
Once I had my license and Petunia (my little white VW Golf) long enough to feel I had driven a million miles and more, I finally had come to the realization that I now knew what I didn't know what I had been missing out on...
The comfort of your own company, in your own space. It's like you're in your own little world and for the time being until you reach your destination, nothing and no one else matters. You get to pick the music you listen to. I will not drive until I have a song playing, so in all seriousness, my auxiliary cord is my best friend. You get to turn the music up as loud as you want to, and listen to that one song on repeat, as many times as you want to, with no one to bug you about it, or tell you to change it. You can scream the lyrics at the top of your lungs just because you can. You can dance, too. Actually, both singing and dancing are highly encouraged. And then laugh at yourself. Laugh at yourself even more when the strangers that pull up next to you see you, even dance a little crazier and roll down the window so they can hear you sing while you're at it. I promise it'll make them laugh, and if not, then it'll make you laugh, and as long as you can laugh at yourself kid, I promise you that you will make it through absolutely anything in this life.
So no matter how long, or short, or near, or far your drive is, for that time being, it's just you. Do not take that alone time because in the world we live in today, it's sometimes almost impossible to have five minutes to ourselves without some distraction. There's only so much in this world that we can and can't control, but for even just a moment in time, you are in control of you and only you. It sounds like such a small part of life that could never measure up to other aspects that life offers that make us feel, dare I say, "powerful", but oh is it liberating. It's the small things in life - as cliché as that is, it's the truth.
Grab your keys, your musical device of choice, and just go.
