On a warm spring evening as I lay on my couch with my legs stretched out watching my favorite team, I heard my dad shout my name. This shout was different though, it wasn’t one as if in danger, but not the ‘I need you’ shout either. Usually this never came from him unless he wanted to go somewhere or teach me something, so I knew it had to be one of the two. Slowly I eased myself up off my spot of comfort and made my way to my dad standing by the door. He told me to ‘put my shoes on and go get in the Subaru I’m going to go learn how to drive stick shift.’

As I put my shoes on I did my best to look and act as excited as a kid walking into Disneyworld for the first time. But, anyone who has had to take time to learn to drive a manual car knows, at first, it’s nothing to be excited about. As we made our way to a long stretch of road seemingly in the middle of nowhere, my nerves began to settle in. I expected to fail at least the first few times knowing it wouldn’t be easy right off the bat. We put it in park and I knew it was time. Shaking violently as I got out of the car I did my best to hold it together and trust myself.

At first my dad let me go just to see how I would do knowing almost nothing. Quickly releasing the clutch and trying to give it gas slowly didn’t work. Once I jerked back the emergency brake and managed to stop the car from throwing us around, my dad explained his reasoning and showed me the correct way to release the clutch and give gas. Now knowing what to do I did my best to repeat exactly what I was just shown and create a habit of it. Not giving enough gas, once again we were thrown forward violently until I could find the emergency brake.

Noticing my anxiety, my dad told me to turn the car off and calm down a little bit. “It’s just an ordinary car; the only difference is you’re using your left foot to help you get going.” He explained. At first, I thought he was an idiot for saying what he just said and didn’t really think about it like that. Restarting the car and failing a countless number of times after, I began to think about that a little bit more and realized he was right. Keeping the emergency brake applied I slowly eased pressure off of the clutch and onto the gas in a rhythm. The engine didn’t sound as if it was being revved and the car didn’t jump an inch the only disappointing part of it all was I had the brake on.

The next try without the brake was just like the previous one with the brake. It was a perfect start. Now all I needed to do was get that rhythm to be a habit. Two perfect starts turned into three, three into four, four into five. Before long I knew I had it down and I was told to drive home. My anxiety began to grow again and once again I started to shake. Pulling out into traffic I prayed there wouldn’t be a car behind me the whole way home. Making every turn smooth I felt good about driving it until I came to our only stop sign. As traffic sped past me seemingly 100mph I knew I had to trust myself and do just what we had practiced. Both lanes cleared and it was my turn. Slowly releasing the clutch and pressuring the gas it felt just as good as when I practiced. Passing through the intersection knowing I had successfully stopped and started even with traffic boosted my confidence and I knew I had nothing to fear. “You did it bud, all in a few hours.” My dad said in with a proud voice.

Now I have a car of my own that I can drive to hang out with friends and get around without depending on my parents. Learning how to drive a clutch can be frustrating when first learning, but once you get it figured out it can be fun. Although it will take time, the reward once you get the hang of it is great and accomplishing. Once you can drive a manual, you can drive anything.