I thought I would end my series of posts on living car-free with a more positive note. I’ve found a lot of joy and happiness along the way! There are so many other paths that a person can take to experience life, and my walking out of car culture helped me to see and feel a richness that I couldn’t have experienced in an automobile.
As an introduction of sorts, here is a video by the Swapathgami Network in Udaipur, India. Many thanks to Manish Jain and Shikshantar for producing wonderful films like this! While this video addresses more of the system of Education, I believe it applies to our very thought processes and lives. We can close the book on what everyone expects us to do or be, and truly live!
This is my second post in a series about living car-free.
So, another reason why I think I embraced a car-free life initially, was because of a whiplash accident I experienced in 2007. It’s probably still ongoing at this point, but in the initial stages, I had major driving-anxiety after the accident. I had to challenge myself to drive for one hour at times. Driving for 5 or 6 hours on a long trip just wasn’t going to happen. Psychologically, this injury stayed with me.
It also stayed with me physically. I spent a good six months at first going to chiropractor appointments, massage appointments, acupuncture appointments, meditation classes, etc. These all helped a lot. My problem was that I didn’t stick with them, and 18 months later, I had a major relapse of pain in my body, with the same psychological symptoms as well.
My chiropractor (for the second round) told me that, “50% of all accident and trauma victims have pain symptoms that they have to manage for years to the rest of their life.”
I really think that age is indeed just a number, and that anyone can be “forever young” or “feel old” – and that it’s a choice as to which one of those you feel! Today, when I stopped into my bank to make a deposit, the teller said, “Oh! By the way, Happy Birthday!”
After a second or two of wondering how my birthday information just automatically appeared on her computer screen, I asked her, “Now you get to guess my age without looking at your computer screen!”
She pondered a bit and said, “Hmm… 29?”
“You can look at your screen now!”
She looked back in disbelief but then said, “Good for you! I’m only a year older than you!”
I did come to the bank by bike, and was wearing my bike helmet, so that could account for the bad age-guessing. And speaking of bikes, when I *was* 29, I don’t think I ever would have imagined going car-free and using a bicycle for transportation around town at 30, let alone 40 or 41!
I *will* live to be 100! That’s my goal! Hopefully I’ll be a nice 75-looking guy by then!
This is my second post in a series about living car-free.
Scott Schumacher is a Reiki Master Teacher, Reformed Druid, Web Designer, Energy Healing Practitioner, and Person living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
