When I lived in America, I used to drive every day. Unless you live in a very urban environment a car is a necessity due to the relative lack of public transportation, especially compared to a crowded, compact country like Japan. I haven't needed to drive since I moved here in 1991, but I do miss it sometimes.
Driving so much taught me many things, not just how to parallel park. Driving down a road is a great metaphor for travelling through life. You could be going to work or school or shopping. Maybe to the hospital or over to a friend's place. You could be in a hurry or taking your time. Sometimes it's a car full of people singing along. Sometimes you're by yourself. The weather changes. You keep going. Sometimes you need to stop for a bit and get something to eat or take a break. You keep going. You could collect and analyze a variety of data about your car's performance. Or you could just enjoy the ride. Don't forget to pick good music.
On a long stretch of highway such as we find in Illinois, where i come from, it can feel a bit boring with hours of driving and not much to see except cornfields. Sometimes it can feel like you're hardly making progress at all, especially when driving at night. You're moving, even if you're not always fully aware of it. Try not to get sleepy. In life, too, it's important to stay alert.
For people who don't drive, they may imagine the car can auto-pilot. You just point it straight and hit the gas, right? Wrong. Every driver knows that even if the outward appearance is that you're going straight, cars don't actually go exactly straight. Going straight in a car is a series of minor corrections from side to side that occur all the time. A good driver is perceptive and keeps their arms relaxed in order to adjust to the surface of the road, which is never truly flat or straight. Over a long distance to a casual observer these corrections become imperceptible and the car appears to go straight - straight enough, anyway.
Our lives are very much like this. To outsiders it may appear that we follow a direct, easy path to success. It may even seem like we could do so on "autopilot" and just take our hands off the wheel and relax. Not so. Much happens in our everyday lives that requires our vigilance and attention. We have to remain focused to keep going in the right direction and to avoid crashing. When we fail to make micro-adjustments we put the car at risk and need bigger adjustments later on, which often lead to panic. It goes without saying we can never be asleep at the wheel. In some places, the roads are rougher, narrower, loaded with twists and turns, slippery, crowded, unfamiliar. Even more care is needed in these situations. This makes the occasional long stretch of open highway even more enjoyable, doesn't it?
Driving a car is the same process for everyone, and even if you have some disabilities you may be able to drive by yourself just as I did. Rich and poor people may drive different vehicles, but the process is the same. Some people may be better at it than others, but the process is basically the same, and experience helps a lot.
Success, then, is based on setting a proper course that leads to the desired destination. It involves staying focused and controlling the speed and direction, as well as making the micro-adjustments needed to stay in the lane. Safety for yourself and your passengers is key. You get the idea.
Also, I recommend good music. It makes any drive better.
