This Is Your Life, Drive It Like You Stole It

 

Harold Sánchez

This is your life

You can go everywhere

You gotta grab the wheel and own it

And drive it like you stole it.

This is your life

You can be anything

You gotta learn to rock and roll it

You gotta pull the pedal down

And drive it like you stole it.

"This is Your Life" is a song from the movie Sing Street.

Sweet and wonderful words are these to me. The fact to know that I’m the owner of my life and that I am the one with the absolute power over it makes me really feel alive.

As a teenager, there were many things I wanted to do but no matter how much I wanted them, I just didn’t dare. Sometimes it was because I wasn’t allowed, and in other occasions I was scared of what would be said about me. I stopped from doing some things because of my own inhibitions. There were several reasons why. I wrote before for another blog about the bullying I was victim of, how that made me feel about myself and the fear it created in me to do things in public –even to talk.

So I can say I grew up miserable and very unhappy. I learned to hide my sadness. Everybody could think I was fine, but I was screaming inside.

Nevertheless, once I learned –little by little- to leave my fears behind, I started doing what I wanted. However, I haven’t gotten rid of all my inhibitions. Sometimes I still feel scared, and songs like this help me in the process, since it encourages me to love myself and to be brave.

“This is Your Life” may not have a so-elaborate prose, but the simple lyrics that comprise it are more powerful to strengthen the soul than many awarded recordings. This is because they look as if they’d been written by a teenager appealing to their peers. They just say what they need, no intention to embellish anything. They go straight to the point.

Although I’m not a teenager anymore, I’m still a dreamer who needs the impulse to work things out, and, well, true it is that we never stop being teenagers inside. Even as adults, we continue cherishing our teenage likes. Some –like me- go on pursuing the goals we set in our teen years and, in order to accomplish them, we must keep that earnestness we had by then.

Going back to the song, it tells me that my life is MINE only and completely MINE so, regardless anybody’s opinion, I must live it my way.

So, like the song says, I “gotta grab the wheel and own it”, take control and don’t be afraid, live it to the fullest. Also, drive it like I stole it: fast, with lots of adrenaline, like if it were to be taken away from me any moment.

We must live our lives now and not wait till later. The time is now. We don’t know when we’ll die, and it would be terrible if we departed from this world without experiencing that sweet feeling of satisfaction and pleasure.

I have decided to live happily, be me –and enjoy it-, leave my fears and bad experiences behind, hold my dreams and work to make them true. No one will control my life. I will laugh at sadness. I’m pretty sure every time I hear this song I will feel more encouraged.

Your life is yours, only yours. Only you have the control, so don’t waste time and drive it like you stole it.

Connor and Raphina run to face new adventures.Photo: Google