Who Drives Your Life?

Life is not to be driven — it is to be lived.

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You often hear the encouragement:

You should be the one to drive your life since it is ultimately yours and no one else’s.

It sounds empowering, even liberating. But while there is some truth in this statement, it is also one of the great fallacies we tend to believe.

As children, we never thought in such terms. Life was simply “life” — neither ours nor anyone else’s. If adults asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, we answered with innocent spontaneity, without much thought: a baseball player, a pilot, an astronaut, a doctor, or an engineer — based only on what we knew at the time. The adults would respond encouragingly:

That’s great! Dream big and aim high. To achieve your dreams, you need to study hard.

The implication?

Drive your life diligently.

Then comes adolescence, a time of deeper reflection. The idea that “this is your life,” and you must take charge becomes more ingrained. If you are fortunate enough to have a dream and supportive parents, this belief is reinforced — study hard, work your best, and achieve your goals.