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Opinions of Friday, 28 October 2016

Columnist: Kobina Ansah

10 Life lessons driving taught me

Kobina Ansah Kobina Ansah

Driving in this part of our world can be a lot of hell. In the early morning rush hour, every driver may want to cut corners to reach their destination as early as they can. Others may jump the red light and be penalized. A few others may try new shorter routes and mistakenly end up in people’s homes! Life teaches us a lot more on the road than in the class. Every minute spent driving (or been driven) is an experience worth learning from. Have a look at these, for instance;

When driving, wherever you’re heading towards, others are always coming from there.

This is the lesson. Where you aspire to be, others have been there and back! Your destination in this life is where others are actually coming from. Be humble. There’s nothing new under the Sun. Whatever height you attain in this life, remember you were never the first to do so.

Other drivers can always provoke you with their carelessness and yet… be the first to jab you with insults.

This is it. In this life, you need sense to take nonsense! Not every person is worth your breath. Others are carrying weights of trash. Don’t allow yourself to be the bin they will dump them into.

The side mirrors of a car are always smaller than the main front mirror.

Lesson. Looking back is not always necessary in this life. Let go of the past. Focus on what’s ahead! When it comes to the past, just pretend you’ve amnesia. Regardless of how many times you look back, you can’t correct your wrongs. Just move on.

When a vehicle slows down, don’t be quick to overtake them. They may be avoiding something dangerous!

Now listen. Don’t be too quick to judge someone until you’ve been in their shoes and walked a mile in them. People oftentimes have reasons why they do what they do. You never know what it feels like to beg for alms, for instance, until your account hits the red. Don’t be too quick to conclude.

Every vehicle has its own mileage.

This is what life taught me. We all are unique. We have our own strengths and limitations. Remember this if you ever want to compare yourself with others. You may only be fruitlessly comparing oranges with apples!

The best of drivers get involved in accidents sometimes. Cars in the best shape can sometimes even break down.

This is the lesson. Life is unpredictable. You may be up in one minute… and down the next. You may be fit today and bedridden just tomorrow regardless of your healthy lifestyle. The best of people may not always have the best of things in life. The best of students may not necessarily be the best in the corporate world. The best managers may necessarily not be the best of entrepreneurs. Like cars, life is unpredictable!

When driving, you disobey traffic rules at the risk of your life and those of others!

Lesson. Life has a way of communicating with us. It gives us hints, for instance, when our bodies are not in good shape. If we are not eating healthily, we fall sick intermittently. Life prompts us on the dire consequences we are likely to face if we keep disobeying the laws of healthy living. Our death affects our loved ones.

When other drivers are honking at you to speed up, you do so at your own pace… and not because they want you to. You may just speed to your death!

Hear this. In this life, if there’s anything you have to do, do it at your own pace and not at the pace others want it to be. We must do what we have to do because we want to do them… and not because others want us to do so. We may end up injuring ourselves in a bid to run this life’s race at the pace others want us to run it.

When you find others with a broken down car on a journey, treat them as you may have wanted others to have treated you if you were in their shoes.

This is the lesson. Life’s challenges, a few times, weigh others down. Others get stuck along life’s journey, sometimes, because of their financial headaches. When we find them in such situations, we don’t walk over them. We help them up. We don’t condemn them. We encourage them. The same weight of problem that made them wobble on their feet today may knock you off your feet tomorrow. Treat them well today because it might just be your turn tomorrow.

Your car may break down because of the little things/checks you don’t do! Lesson. Little inactions mass up to become big problems! A little slumber today. A little procrastination tomorrow. A little flirting here and there. A little drunkenness. What destroy us are not big things. They are the little things we ignored that have now become big things we can’t overcome. If you don’t want your life to break down, do the little checks. Check your diet. Check your time management. Check every little detail of your life. Our lives are made up of many little things.