Practice, practice, practice and driving

I have gotten alot of results from my habit of practice, practice, practice.

Recently I got my Drivers License!

For years, I had to rely on others for rides, taking cabs, taking the bus, and walking.   But, now, I am driving.

Its a long story with many twists and much frustration.    I kept plugging away at it with lots of help, and now, I am driving by myself.   I will come back and talk about all the baby steps in another post.

For now, I want to say there were 5 big steps:

First, I had to find appropriate rehabilitation.

Then I had to do alot of rehabilitation.

Then I had to practice to take the written test again (because my license expired).

Then I had to practice behind the wheel.

And then, when I was ready, I took the behind the wheel test.

Once I got my learner’s permit and could sit in the drivers seat, I practiced, when I could, over a span of 7 or 8 years.

Who knew that there were so many skills to driving?  I certainly didn’t.

When I got my license as a teen, I practiced alot too.   At that time, I had no idea of what the skills were that I was practicing in order to learn to drive on my own.   I just practiced.

What I know now is that driving takes a lot of cognitive skills — like memory, concentration, attention, and problem solving skills — as well as visual skills and balance skills that I had to consciously re-learn.

I have these skills again!   I can drive independently.

When I was a teen and got my license I wanted to drive somewhere far away.

When I got my license this time, I just wanted to be able to drive to a convenience store to run an errand!

In both cases, practice led to more independence.  Yahoo!