I’m seventeen. So driving has been a big thing in my life as of late. I’d been trying to get my license for a long while. I always had trouble learning to drive; I wanted to just be able to without any effort at all. My confidence was shot after some troubling incidents while learning.

This past summer I set some goals for myself; my biggest was to end the summer with my driver’s license. I practiced every chance I got, with a load of help from my father, yet when the time came around to take the test, I was still nervous and uncertain about whether it was the right time or not. That was when I sat down and really thought about how important earning my license was to me. I thought about it and realized that going into that DMV the next day, I had ONE option and ONLY one. That only option was to walk out of that DMV with my license in hand. I imagined the ecstatic feeling I would have walking out, living through my nightmare that had suddenly became a wonderful dream. I imagined how happy my father would be for me, how proud, after all my hard work. I had gone from a horrible driver to a wonderful one in one short summer.

The next day, the test was the easiest thing I ever went through in my life; everything my driving instructor tested me on, I had practiced and gone further, like when he asked me to backup in a straight line, my father and I had actually practiced backing up into parking spaces and narrow alleyways. It was crazy how easy this test was. And the best part was me reliving my wonderful thoughts; the ecstatic feeling I had, knowing I’d passed the test, my license in hand, my father’s hold on me, telling me how proud he was. And then of course the celebratory dinner at my favorite Japanese steakhouse. I love The Secret.