You, are the way you drive

Have you ever paid special attention to the way different people manoeuvre on the road and wonder beyond their mere desire to get from one place(or point) to another?

Do you faithfully and obediently drive a safe distance behind the person in front of you on the highway?

Do you usually travel on the left most lane, middle lane or the express lane?

Do you zip in between lanes simply to overtake the car in front of yours?

Do you peek at your fuel meter every now and then to ensure that you don't run out of fuel halfway to your destination?

Do you top up fuel only when it is running out or whenever you deem convenient to do so?

Do you tailgate and flash your high beam furiously at the fellow driving in front of you to get him to give way? OR

Do you overtake him at the first possible instance and swiftly return to the lane you were originally travelling on, just to prove a point?

Do you give way to drivers trying to manoeuvre into your lane, whether they signal or not?

This list is non exhaustive.

My point here is , the way you drive can offer an insight to the way you behave in life in general or your attitude towards life itself.

My philosophy here is , the journey on the road can be likened to an individual's journey in life.

The go getters simply refuse to tag behind their slow moving counterparts, or ppl who hinder their progress, in our analogy, the destination they are travelling to. In life, you "overtake" others who are progressing slower than you. Or you "horn/flash your high beam" at those who are preventing you from progressing and you have no other ways to "overtake" them other than "signalling" albeit not very politely to them, hoping that they get the message and "give way" to allow you to move on.

Others are contented to move along at the same pace as others. It doesn't matter to them whether they reach the destination 10mins or 1hr later than others. "I'd reach there eventually, why should I take a risk?" might be on their minds.

While the risk takers, which could probably be a majority seek to take "another route", or take the risk to "change lane" in order to reach their destination or attain their goal faster.

Take a moment to observe your driving style and see if it reflects the mentality you adopt towards life.

At the end of the day, we're all caught up in this rat race, quintessential of our competitive society. To quote a line dropped by this stress management consultant who conducted a particular workshop I attended some time ago,

"Singaporeans are really Russians in Asian skincoats"

which I found rather corny and somewhat risible but nonetheless thought provoking if you look beyond the humour and reflect on its implications.