Lessons from my first car
My dad has a saying: a car owner has two happy days—the day they buy a car, and the day they sell it. Today, I sold mine, and I've never felt happier.
This isn't a story about smart investments. The selling price was 6 times less than what I poured into it. But the lessons? They were worth every penny.
Here are three things my 27-year-old car (nearly the same age as me!) taught me about life, no mechanic’s license required:
- Ownership requires attention
Whether it's a car, your health, a project, or a relationship, it needs your focus. If you neglect it, it doesn’t just sit there—it gets swallowed by the constantly changing world around it. It’s a bit like secular Buddhism: be present with the things you care about, or watch them fade.
- The best rewards come after the biggest headaches
The first three weeks of driving were bliss. Then, the engine temperature went wild. It took six months, five different attempts, and a full engine replacement (yes, in my first year of car ownership!) to solve it. The number of times I felt completely stuck and wanted to give up was staggering. But the feeling of turning the key and hearing the engine run perfectly after all that struggle? Pure magic. Keep pushing through the "I don't know what to do" moments. The breakthrough is worth it.
- Understanding the fundamentals is a superpower
My inner engineer fell in love with a piece of art: the internal combustion engine. It seems impossibly complex, but its core principles are beautifully simple. For example, getting it to start just requires three things: fuel with pressure, a spark, and compression. It was a powerful reminder that any intimidating system—whether it's a car, a business challenge, or a piece of code—can be understood by breaking it down to its first principles. Once you grasp the fundamentals, you can solve anything.
So, here's to the projects that cost us more than we planned, but give back more than we could have ever imagined. It was one heck of a ride.
Happy Friday