A Stick Shift Life

The simple act of changing gears may not seem to be a major issue in the determination of enjoyable driving (or a good life), either you drive straight gear or automatic. While you need to pay attention in either, an automatic life seems to imply ease and comfort. However, in my experience, driving a stick shift changes the act from passive to active involvement. Active is always better. Knowing how to drive a stick shift enhances self-confidence. Besides, you never know when the opportunity or need will arise to use that skill. Driving a stick shift provides a sense of power and exhilaration. Certainly provides and requires a reasonable amount of control too. So, active involvement, self-confidence, power, exhilaration and reasoned control, all these are useful assets for everyday living.

Stick shift living implies a "do it myself" attitude which comes with an interest, or actually an intrigue, about how to accomplish tasks. This make-it happen-posture shows up in everything, from simple tasks such as stacking firewood to mental ponderings about how to build a small addition I need. Not that I would build it myself, but I do like trying to figure out how I would go about it if I did. I especially relish the challenge of how to do something new. Most tasks simply require a willingness to work once you get it figured out and gather the tools and materials. Fortunately, I am overly gifted with willingness to work.

A stick shift life requires resisting and rejecting generalizations and especially role assignments. Women are people....as are men, short and tall, black and "white" and mixed race too, straights and gays, young and old...and any other labels you choose. Work does not have a gender. "Women's work" can be anything that doesn't require brute strength or (in my case) being tall. Why is driving a tractor any different than driving a car or truck (it's not except for the added equipment & operating that can be learned too). As a feminine (though not prissy) woman, I have mowed, raked and baled hay, ran a mixer/grinder to make cow feed, and as I told grandson 1 recently, I can drive anything (haven't of course, but figure I could). As an old woman, I have learned to kayak, wasn't hard since I have a sit-on, inflatable kayak ... hardest thing about it is inflating it with a rechargable pump, not hard! I have paddled some beautiful rivers & lakes alone and love it! Society's pressure to conform is heavy and pervasive. When I was a child, girls were still told to be ladylike. I was a "tomboy" meaning I preferred any outdoor activity to being inside. Being inside often meant doing housework (washing dishes! blah!) or learning to sew. Nothing inside was as much fun as hanging upside down from the apple tree limb. So, the sitting still and being ladylike did not come easy for me. As a young mom, responsible for the care and feeding of the children as well as the cows and horses, I enjoyed being female AND doing the manual work required in both these roles. Role assignments are limiting and far too narrow to account for individual traits and talents. Who decides which category a task falls in? What does it matter the gender (or other divisive role) of the person who is there and willing and able to take care of what needs to be done? A stick shift life has no room for role assignments.

Naturally, the main component in living a stick shift life is the ability to change gears. Change is often surprising or even shocking. It is also inescapable throughout life. No matter how we try to avoid it, change happens. Adapting to events in life is the true test of success. How we adjust to what happens to us is more important than our title, how much money we have, or where we live. While some change tests the ability (or even the desire) to live beyond the event, even the most devastating change is more readily survived in a stick shift life.

The rewards of living a stick shift life are immeasurable. Rejecting imposed limitations and self-limitations sets you free to explore the amazing possibilities life offers. One of the most rewarding aspects of a stick shift life is the pleasure of completing a daunting task or accomplishing a personal goal. Add that to active involvement, self-confidence, power, exhilaration and control and you have a joyous stick-shift life.

Thanks for your company!

Elizabeth