Life is a lot like driving.
Original Publication Date: April 12, 2024
Edited for Readability: February 1, 2026
Ain't nobody do better than me on my lane. My lane is MY LANE. I am going through MY LANE that God put me through.
This is a non-verbatim sound byte in my head from a video I came across from someone's carousel (which I've missed entirely in the traitorous cliff of the scroll.)
If it's not obvious, the past few days I've been driving - driving a lot. Well, I mean there's plenty to go up from zero.
But I have been driving a lot with my dad recently which has given me some new appreciation for the skill. It's difficult, especially for someone who's been accustomed to being driven. The opportunities to drive were just very scarce - and living in a high-traffic city where you'd get to your destination faster by walking just made it even less appealing.
But, I've taken on driving recently because I want to be someone my family can depend on...and honestly, I also look forward to long road trips where I'm the one behind the wheel instead of the passenger seat.
Stay on your lane.
When I was learning how to drive, I remember my instructor telling me not to linger too long on the side views. I shouldn't be so concerned with how everyone else is faring. I should just change a glance - but focus on where I'm going.
And I think life is a lot like that - just like that preacher said, your lane is your lane.
Too many times we try to fit ourselves into molds that we don't truly belong in and more often than not, we find our faults and our misalignments in the failures. I don't quite remember who I heard it from but I quote it from time to time, "The only competitions we lose are the ones we don't enter ourselves."
We all have a destination in mind and the measure of success shouldn't be how we fare with others, rather it should be how we are able to reach the destination within our capacities.
Sometimes, the signs are hard to read.
When I was in investments, a very visceral and beautiful metaphor was used by one of our investment partners when they were talking about market predictions amid the post-pandemic economy.
We as investment professionals were navigating very foggy roads on a rainy night. The signs are all there and we see them if we shine a light on them, but we have to be close enough to understand what they denote - else we'd misconstrue them completely.
And although it's not always like that with life. Sometimes, there are days when the weather is beautiful, the sun is high and the drive is a mid-day affair. The signs are clear, and we completely know where we're going. But, sometimes also, the weather doesn't work with us. The terrains we navigate don't: the economy, our personal circumstances, related fields, and industries concerned with our career.
Life is a series of interrelations which - just like the weather - is something we can't control. But we have a destination in mind (or at least we should have one.)
And in the navigation toward that destination, we must learn to weather the storms and brave the showers because we drive along this road to get to somewhere - and we won't get there if we remain sedentary where we are.
Life is a lot easier with someone on the passenger seat.
I'll admit. I'm not the best driver.
I pray with my dad before we go on our drives, partially influenced by how religious he is. But I like those moments shared with him before we get on the road. We don't pray for the best driving experience. Instead, we pray that we hurt no one on the road and that we have a safe trip.
In a way, I found a microcosm of life in the brief moments shared with my dad on the road. We've never really spoken so much ever since I became an adult because life was always busy for me and him until he retired.
It made me reflect on the fact that my dad has always been on the passenger seat of my life, helping me navigate through the different terrains and taking charge when he thought I wasn't prepared enough.
(Just like earlier when I had to take a U-turn for a high-traffic two-way street.)
I remember when I was preparing for university and my dad told me that he’d always wanted to be a teacher, but he knew he couldn’t because teachers never earned enough to put their children in comfortable lives. My grandma from my mother’s side was a teacher and she had to take other jobs to make ends meet.
In the same conversation, he tells me, regardless of his sacrifice, that he doesn't want me to follow in his footsteps in not seeing his dream to its end and that he would support me with what I wanted to take through university regardless of career viability.
(Funnily enough, I was too much of a pragmatist like my mother and took the finance route rather than the arts.)
(But the thought still lingers as one of the reminders of how truly loved I am.)
And even though life is a lot easier with a passenger in tow - eventually, we will have to learn to drive alone because our destination isn’t for others to follow.
Related Literature & Inspirations:
The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton