Life is a highway, and I want to drive it
When I was sixteen, my mom had saved up enough money to buy a brand
new minivan straight out of the assembly line. For my sixteen-year-old
self, this was the equivalent of winning the lottery, since this meant
that I could now inherit my mother’s old car and finally live out
every kid’s teenage dream. Even though the car was only a beat up 2002
Izuzu Rodeo, an SUV that had already broken down multiple times and
whose parent company had gone out of business, it might as well been a
Lamborghini for all I cared. It was my own car! My mouth was already
watering at the thought of rolling up to school with my windows down
and radio blaring. The world was at my fingertips and it felt like I
had nothing separating me from my dreams but the open highways that I
could now drive to my heart’s content.
My first dose of reality came during my junior year prom. As I was
driving in my overpriced tuxedo to pick up my hot date for the prom, I realized that a huge
pillar of smoke had suddenly blossomed from the hood of my car.
When I looked down
at my dash, my heart literally froze when I saw the needle on the
thermostat had torpedoed all the way down to H for ridiculously hot.
My head gasket had exploded, and instead of picking up my date and
taking her to prom like a princess, I had to instead ask if we could
take her car to the dance. Although I can look back on this moment
with a smile and laugh about my comedic misfortune, the feeling of
embarrassment on that day stung and allowed me to realize a valuable
lesson about myself and the attitude that I want to take towards my
life.
The cliche goes like this: It’s not about the destination, it’s about
the journey. And while I believe that these words are true and can be
applied to everyday life, I also believe that the concept of a
destination can constantly change as a person changes. Whenever I hop
into the driver’s seat to drive my car, the purpose behind me driving
is to reach a predetermined destination that I want to reach. But once
I reach my destination, the endpoint always changes to something new
and the process repeats itself. I believe that life is similar in that
there really is no destination, just a series of journeys that build
on each other. Rather than get worked up over something like a broken
car, it is important to put everything in perspective and focus on the
greater picture for the direction that we all want our journey to
take. Life is your highway, so drive it to whatever route or rhythm
that you desire.
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