Since getting my e-bike, driving in this city has become more unbearable. I now know that there is a better way for me to get around, yet I still find myself stuck behind a car carrying someone I’ll never know but project hate toward anyhow. Lately, it feels like the world – Karma – is out to get me because nobody, fucking nobody, has been driving the speed limit.
Normally, people in this city drive like something out of Mad Max. Imbeciles, the lot of ‘em. They drive like they learned how to on the bumpers cars at the amusement park. Speed limits are regularly ignored and surpassed. Turn signals are accessories. Traffic lights only serve to add a flash of colour to the concrete jungle.
Lately, I’ve been the hyena on the road, running full speed while chasing a snail. It’s been aggravating. It has, however, given me some time to think.
It occurred to me that the world, in its own way, is trying to tell me to slow down.
One of the best things about the e-bike is that I can peddle. That motion, actually putting in some work to make the bike move, helps channel some of the pent up energy I take around with me. The same limits on how fast I can travel don’t apply to a bike as they do to a car. On a bike, you can navigate around slower moving obstacles more easily, take advantage of sidewalks and green spaces, and fit into gaps that would otherwise remain vacant. I’m always trying to move faster.
What I might also enjoy but can’t seem to let myself do, is peddle comfortably and move as quickly as lazy legs will allow. I could leave all the rush and the worry to everyone else. It could be the same when I’m driving. Instead of trying to be first and get ahead, I could just relax and get to where I’m going a little later but a lot calmer. Does it really matter if someone cuts in front of you because they’re too impatient to wait in line?
Yes! Of course, it fucking does. They’re assholes whose cars should be keyed. I can’t stand it when someone else has the gall think that they’re being inconvenienced is a justification for having someone else bear the cost.
But, no, it’s exactly this that I need to understand and subdue. I’m letting the competitive side of me impair my judgement. I can’t let them win by trying to be first myself. It’s a real exercise in control to slow down and relieve a burden.
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