Sunday Update #7

Here's a blog post I thought I would never end up writing and if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you will already know that on Monday, I passed my driving test. Many of my friends and family will know that this has been a real struggle for me and honestly, I still can't quite believe it. 

My driving journey began when I was 17, my parents bought me 10 lessons as a birthday present and I picked everything up pretty quickly, but when it came to the test a year later I failed right at the last minute. Although I was obviously gutted, I knew that most people passed second time round, so I didn't let it affect my confidence, until I failed a further two times. By this point I was emotionally drained and I stopped driving for quite a while. Long story short - I passed on my sixth go and every fail was not down to my ability, but just my nerves completely taking over. For anyone who has failed once or multiple times, it is so disheartening, but when you want something, you have to keep trying and whilst I have had several breaks in-between, I really didn't want this demon get the better of me.

On Monday 3rd February at 10.14am I set off for my test, this time I took my driving instructor with me, as I never did this in the past and I thought it would help me to have someone who knew I could drive, with me. I loaded up on Bach's Rescue Remedy and slathered on my beloved This Works Sleep Balm - basically, I left nothing to chance. I was incredibly nervous, as expected and when I pulled up at the test centre after taking the test I honestly did not know the outcome, I just had my fingers crossed and was chanting 'please, please, please' over and over in my head. When he told me I had passed, I just said "oh my god what a relief!" and then scribbled an eligible signature onto my test certificate and that was it - I'd done it! My parents have been away and all I wanted was to ring my mum and tell her and her reaction was everything I wanted and so much more - actually everyone I told or spoke to was so pleased for me and I felt on cloud 9 for the rest of the day. 

Yesterday, my parents took me to a local garage where my mum bought her car, to look at what they had on offer. After looking online, I had my eye on a Nissan Micra that they had, but didn't want to get my hopes up, just in case she had been sold when I got there. Low and behold, she was there waiting for me. I am very fortunate to have the best parents in the world, who agreed to loan me the money so that I could get a half decent car and so, Poppy the Micra is now mine! We pick her up on Tuesday and I've spent the weekend sorting out tax and insurance for her, as well and buying the essentials - car mats, de-icer and Yankee Candle air fresheners (the closest thing to a beauty product I can buy for my car...) My pink license also came through the post yesterday, which I wasn't expecting - the icing on the cake you might say.

I'm honestly elated that I've finally done it and I know this is going to give me the independence I've desperately wanted for years. If your struggling with driving or maybe you've just failed - please don't give up, when you finally do it, it makes all the hard work so worth it. Those regular Space NK trips may need to stop for a while though...