I lived in Boston for three years. When I first moved to the city I lived in Somerville, which is on the Cambridge side of the river. That river being the Charles. I was terrified to drive there. I had lived in the greater DC area on and off for almost eight years and knew the ins and outs of commuting there. But Boston was totally new and kind of scary.
On my first day of work I drove the main roads. I used google maps to plan my route and didn’t deviate from it. I checked all the street signs. I drove the speed limit. I stuck to the plan. I arrived safe and sound with some solid fear sweat.
I drove the same way for a week until I felt confident I could get there on time and without getting lost. And was relieved that I could navigate a cold, hard city with a reputation for being aggressive and not get yelled at.
Then I started to get bored. And I found I was constantly getting stuck in horrible traffic taking the main roads. And I wanted to know the city better. My natural curiosity spurred me to change things up.
So, I started taking side streets. Seeing where they would go. Which ones were dead ends. Which had lights or stop signs. Sometimes I got there faster and sometimes slower. Sometimes I hit unexpected construction or dead ends. I saw new people and businesses. I saw gardens and courtyards all around Cambridge. I found a pizza joint and a coffee shop that had amazing croissants as big as my head.
Eventually I started to learn the city’s arterials and veins. I could make predictions about traffic and educated guesses as to which way would get me to work faster. I had a route for every scenario and destination, drawn from my own experience independent of technology.
If traffic was bad I’d wind my way through the side streets. If there was construction near Harvard I’d go the long way. If I left at 5am I used Storrow Drive because it was empty.
The point is I took lots of different routes. I experimented and took chances. Some were successful and some were not. And I learned enough to develop some algorithms for getting around the city in any circumstance. I knew all the workarounds if something unexpected popped up.
One night I took a wrong turn and after some fairly graphic cursing I happened upon an amazing cheese store. I bought a lot of cheese that night.
I came to appreciate the positive side of making mistakes and happy accidents.
Sometimes you’ve got to drive all the roads before you find the best path. But if you apply that knowledge well you can predict, adapt, pivot, and make new discoveries. Driving a tough city can actually become pleasurable and less stressful and the strategies you apply turn problems into adventures.
Maybe we can apply these driving lessons to other areas of our life. I wonder what discoveries we could make.
