When I tell people that I love cars, the first question they ask is about my favorite car, or perhaps what model got me so interested in the automotive sphere in the first place. But now, I’m beginning to realize that I might love the experience of driving more than I’ve ever loved any specific car. I have probably driven more than most folks my age since I spent a total of three years as a pre-production test driver, and it never got old for me. Maybe instead of being labeled a “car guy,” I should be called a driving guy.
I have been infatuated with cars my whole life. My mom tells everyone how, as soon as I learned to walk, I would chase classic Volkswagens down the road, and how every birthday and Christmas I would ask for new remote controlled cars. I grew up watching shows like Top Gear and reading all the car magazines, but I didn’t realize until recently that the cool cars I was obsessing over are just a means for driving, and what I clung to was the feeling these stories and shows portrayed: the joys of driving.
While commuting to and from work isn’t particularly glamorous or exciting, it was never a bother for me. As long as I wasn’t running late to anything, I didn’t even mind traffic. I just loved being in my car, driving, listening to music, and remaining grounded in the present.
As someone with a very active amygdala who’s often overthinking, overanalyzing, and overcomplicating things, driving forces me to be very present and focus on nothing but my immediate surroundings in that very instant. Driving forces me to be grounded in the present as I observe what’s happening around me and react accordingly. It’s an effective way to get oneself out of their reactivity and take the anxiety down a few notches.
Being grounded means you are emotionally and mentally stable and remaining present rather than letting your brain go a million miles per hour and stress about something you have to do next month or thinking about a conversation you had yesterday. Driving encourages me to remain active in the present moment and focus on the task at hand rather than stewing in my anxiety. It even gives me an excuse to ignore phone notifications that otherwise provide constant reminders that I don’t have a six-pack and that rent is due next week and that the entire world is a dumpster fire. Driving allows you to pause everything else in life, since you can’t handle it right now, you’re driving!
Working on yourself is a perpetual process, and despite feeling like I’ve made progress, I still have work to do. When I am driving, I often find myself getting a teensy bit irritated with other drivers, meaning I get so angry my heart rate increases and I feel adrenaline coursing through my veins. When I find myself in that state of anger and reactivity, I identify that feeling, breathe through it, and remember it is not a personal attack when someone cuts me off and then slows down once they’re in my lane. There are few other situations in life that allow me to navigate powerful emotions in my own little sound proof box, but driving does. It’s a great exercise in anger management, self control, and remembering that life isn’t that serious.
I am the type of person who loves to blast their music, so driving allows me to indulge that desire without worrying about annoying my neighbors or finding my headphones. I’ll often hear a new song that I love and say to myself, “I need to hear this in my car,” since it’s probably my favorite place to listen to music. I can scream along to the lyrics without worry, and really feel the song as my speakers bombard my entire body with glorious, freeing sound waves. Music can totally change the vibe of a drive, too. If I am feeling sad I can choose to play sad music to wallow and then switch it up to happy music when I’m heading home.
Most importantly, though, driving is just fun. I love being able to hop in my car and bop out to the canyons. I love cruising along the coast listening to the waves crash. I love ambling to the desert to see the stars. I love the array of emotions that driving allows me to experience: peace, anger, joy, power, and groundedness. I am so grateful for this passion; driving has even given me friends. Other wonderful weirdos like me, who can also name every car on the road like I can, and who almost exclusively consume automotive media. To all my fellow driving enthusiasts out there, I hope this resonates, but if it doesn’t, maybe you haven’t driven enough yet.