What I learned in life not having owned a car!

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This might be a strange one, but was inspired by a post from a friend, in which he mentioned that his mother taught him about relativity, and that you can be happy in any circumstance. For the last little while I have been worried about the near future, when my in-laws will be moving overseas, because we have been using their car to get around on the weekends.

Growing up, for a large portion of my primary and high school, we did not own a car. I always thought that we were worth less for not having a car. I remember trying to hide the fact that we did not have a car. Now, years later, still not owning a car, still really wanting one, and probably desperately needing one, especially because I have two kiddies, I am deciding to look at the positive side of my experience.

Things I have gained

I have been really fit growing up. I used to walk or run everywhere I went. At one stage in high school I had a bicycle without brakes. I would ride to school, come rain or hail, probably about 10 km, then after school, return, and on the way load up my two brothers. Three of us would be on the bike, and I would peddle away. There was this one bridge that we used to drive over, and when we came to the top, our speed would drastically increase. We literally kept up with cars going down that hill (still with no brakes haha!). In my early married life, in Port Elizabeth, we also had a bicycle and I lifted my wife literally everywhere, all the time, and some distances. Needless to say, I was at my physical pique haha.

I have gained a love for nature. I have learned to observe nature and people.

I have had good time to reflect on life and introspect.

I have needed to swallow my pride and ask people for rides, often. I have learned to deal with rejection a little bit better.

I have learned patience. When you walk so far that your destination looks like a hill in the distance, and as you walk, it seems to get further out of your reach, then you can say that you have walked a lot!

In all seriousness, I need a car… in like a month!!! This was quite a fun one haha :)