Driving record ...

In Colombia when you are learning how to drive, they always tell you to “Manejar a la Defensiva” .. pretty much translates to “defensive driving”

They teach you “how” to prevent every possible accident caused by other’s bad driving habits .. they teach you to keep severe caution in order to prevent catastrophe at all cost, no matter other people’s actions, mistakes, violations .. Or simply lack of care.

Sometimes friendships and overall relationships in life are like driving, seems we need to be careful and take steps to prevent bad situations, we need to make sure our vehicle is in great condition for the unpredictable road to be driven (gas, tires, oil change, no alert lights on .. brakes .. etc) we need to learn how to “yield” while on the road in order to prevent others to run us over, we need to keep the speed-limit, make the right turns and always look out for those who just don’t know how to drive.

Sometimes the driving manual alone is not enough and is then when we develop our own driving techniques and habits in order to protect ourselves from crashing and have an easier ride.

Those techniques are meant to keep us safe, but in many occasions keep us away from the reality of the road, from admitting the needs of other drivers and is then when defensive turns into offensive, is then when we hurt or crash those driving.

It’s hard to understand other’s driving styles though, and near to impossible for them not to disturb our ride in many occasions. I’ve learned recently that no matter how much attention I pay while driving, I will never fully understand and differentiate other driver’s ways and prevention tools or techniques. I’ve encountered drivers that would always speed up once they get close, trying to be a “faster” version of me; others that would drive along and provide good driving company; others would cut you off and make your ride a living hell, others would just slow you down for no apparent reason .. and the selfish ones that would just not take into consideration other drivers as if the road was only made for them (egotistic driving maniacs, with no driving skills of their own, who in order to keep all attention would ran you over and scratch your car … or copy your every move). 

There is really no way to fully prevent accidents in life, but it’s important to keep in mind that there is always a way to fix-up our cars, scratches can be sanded and painted away, bumps can be re-shaped.. I say, let’s keep perfecting our driving style and develop good techniques according to the road in order to arrive to whatever destination we may have safe and happy … but never stop driving … after all .. “la practica hace al maestro”!

“Happiness is a journey, not a destination”