Learning to drive

Today I learned what driving is really like. I could have watched as much anime as I wanted, read as many theoretical books, talked to as many professionals as were out there, and I still wouldn't have learned what I learned today.

Today I learned to see the road differently. I learned to see the road as something that I don't need to follow, but something that I can use. Instead of looking at where I am, I look at where I'm going to be, where I want to be, and how to get there by using the road but not necessarily by following it.

I learned how to pick my own path out of the track that's been given me, to manipulate the road to my own needs. It was a whole new way of seeing things. I saw my own eyes change.

I learned how to push the engines to their limits, stop my foot from hovering over the break, how to keep pushing harder and faster against all possible logic, how to not let the speed get in the way of my path, how to use that speed to make my path better.

I learned that the worst thing that can happen is that you spin out, recover, and start again. It's not that bad. And you learn from it.

I learned what it feels like to have a guy pass you and how to take that frustration and turn it into something valuable. I learned to copy his lines, to drive behind him and figure out his secret.

I learned what it feels like to pass someone and know that you took the right path. Know that you didn't get caught up in the moment and follow the mistakes they made. Know that you don't conform so easily, that you're not that malleable.

Just hours earlier, I had seen a baby cow that was born that morning, I had seen the eyes of a little boy open wide with curiosity as I showed him my house in Santa Monica on GoogleMaps, I had screamed out my lungs across la Loire and heard my echo call me back, but nothing compared to this experience that changed how I now see driving and changed how I see the world.