Session 19 Debrief: Nip and Tuck

One of the biggest improvements in my driving skills is my ability to take a vehicle without much anxiety. The last few sessions have been instrumental in developing that confidence and faith in my learning ability and reaction times.

Moreover, now, I can man the vehicle through tight spaces and dense traffic with ease. Of course, there is a part of me that worries but it’s normal at this stage.

Today’s session was a mixed bag. On one hand, I didn’t do the majority of driving — something I wanted considering we were headed to a different city. However, on the other hand, I did drive through the initial part of the trip which was critical for many reasons.

Let’s dive into the minutes of the practice run.

Session 19 Recap

The objective was to go to a neighboring city to watch a movie. I had to pick the boys up and drive into the trip. The initial part of the drive was challenging for me as it would require me to stop at various stages to pick up passengers and navigate city traffic.

There were some rough elements of the ride regarding how I controlled the throttle and the clutch. None of them were ‘oof’ moments but rather ‘needs more polishing’ moments. 

The most experienced driver of all of us noted the same scrappiness in my ride. Although it didn’t put the vehicle or the passengers into any kind of trouble, it definitely appeared, to the trained eye, that the pilot was a novice.

Initially, I believed we’d go all the way to the cinema hall before the first driver switch. We had to prepone that due to unexpected delays. The buddy that took over drove at about 30 kmph faster than I did.

I took over after we returned back to our hometown and dropped all my friends. It was about 1330 hours and the town was jam-packed due to tourists and marriage processions. 

The way back to my home came with challenges but none of them threw me into panic or an anxiety of inaction. At this point in my driver’s journey, I am well aware of how to handle critical situations.

The first critical situation was through a narrow lane, taken to avoid a buttload of traffic that would have cost me 10 extra minutes per 200 meters, where autorickshaws, motorcyclists, and a couple of load carriers (tractor, etc.) had to be avoided.

I stopped at places to let others by and patiently waited wherever required.

When exiting that lane and joining the main street, I negotiated my car past a tractor by millimeters. A similar incident occurred a few minutes later.

This time I was on the grand road of my town. A marriage procession was already blocking a part of the street. To make matters worse, a convoy of some guy, attending someone’s marriage, wanted to go through.

I was squeezed on the outside, millimeters away from the road divider. The dividers were steel barricades with wheels. The right wheels of my car climbed over the wheel legs of those damned barriers.

After both of the aforementioned moments, I was worried that I scratched my vehicle. 

Additionally, I was tired due to the lack of sleep the previous night. More on this later. It was about 1400 hours and I was craving some shut-eye. I proceeded to park the car at a new spot because the house in front of my previous one requested it for a few days.

The space was little and I crammed it as well as I could and went home.

Too Much to Do

I’ve been on a tear for the past week. All sorts of pressures are mounting while I am pushing my limits to cover them all. Although I am impressed with how I am handling it, it goes without saying that I am running out of hours in a day.

Working out, chores, office work, and creative content are taking up all the time I have. The only time when I am not working is when I am asleep. 

Fortunately, the load at the office is relatively low at the moment, giving me some breathing room. During those times, I am completing my backlog and fitting in as many tasks as I can.

A new source of stress comes from the pressure to get married by my parents. I do recognize their concern but they are making me feel as if I am 40 years old, while I am not even 30 yet.

Due to my refusal to do things on their timeline, the atmosphere around the house has tensed up. This definitely isn’t ideal and, unsurprisingly, contributes to more psychological strain that compounds the difficulties of my days.

Things have been moving at such a rapid pace that I am unable to get moments to reflect on the recent wins I’ve had. For instance, since the beginning of the year, I learned how to drive, got my license, bought a car, and leveled up my driving skills massively.

Furthermore, my discipline is stronger than ever, I haven’t missed a rep, and sticking to my content production schedules with a few (justified) exceptions.

Suffice it to say, I’ve been performing at my highest-ever level. Unfortunately, I am destitute of time to marvel at it. The only thing I do now is to quickly move from one thing to the next.

Perhaps, in the long term, this is better as I am working tirelessly toward my dream of being a content creator and complete digital marketer. Perhaps this is what dedication looks like. I genuinely feel like a workaholic, but that’s life, I guess.

The only way I can squeeze in a smidge of self-reflection and recon is through these driving session debriefs. Truth be told, this is one of the primary reasons why I am still writing these entries. It feels great to let the feelings out.

Anyway, I must snap out of it now and focus on the next item on the list — getting the car washed. It’s been a while and the vehicle desperately needs some cleaning. I will try my best to get it done on Monday.

Initially, I will go to the car wash to hunt for a good window of time. It will probably cost me about an hour.

Looking Forward: F1 Content Dump

The 2025 Formula 1 season is almost here. In less than two weeks’ time, we’d be racing in Australia. That means I must release a series of videos before that moment arrives.

I’ve planned to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each potential title contender to help the fans assess who might win. There are two ways to approach this — the good old-fashioned way and the thug life.

The former requires me to write detailed scripts and present the subject matter articulately. The video, then, would be processed to include assistive visuals that primarily consist of images and text.

This is a tried-and-tested methodical approach that costs a couple of days, at least.

The second methodology is much faster as it follows an informal path to video creation. Here, I mention the talking points on the screen and yap over it. Or create a PowerPoint presentation and flip through the slides.

This doesn’t require me to write a script and allows me to publish the video within a day.

Considering the iota of work that lay ahead and the pressure I am under, the thug life strategy suits me better. Furthermore, my speaking skills have improved massively in the past few weeks.

Until next time,

Tara

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Next Chapter: Session 20 Debrief: New Morning, Same Crap

Previous Chapter: Session 18 Debrief: First Clean Run

Index (with Prologue): The Path to Driving License