It’s not that I would swap the mind I duly possess now for the one I had when I was 18, but some things I could definitely trade with my 18 year old self. Wouldn’t you?

Alicia reflects and reminisces about being young and fun… and crashing cars.

When I was 18 my bike was my mode of transport, even to job interviews! And speaking of job interviews, there weren’t many jobs that did come through for me at the time. Maybe I was too much of a hippy back then, who knows. But I did have my best friend’s wheels for some good times, whether it meant driving around the town with our music blaring through her speakers on a Sunday afternoon, or having a responsible night out at the nightclubs.

One of my favourite memories occurred on one such responsible night. Weary and worn after dancing all night, we walked several blocks back to Sharon’s* car. As we walked towards the car on such a beautiful clear night – or was it dawn? – we enjoyed the soft breeze coming in from the ocean. This was Townsville by the way, where the nightlife is its crown jewel, and its rugged face softened by beautiful blue waters.

We climbed into her tiny little Hyundai Excel. One of those original boxy versions that only had one speaker rattling our favourite tunes on Triple J. We took our heels off, took our hair out, made ourselves comfortable, ready for the 20 minute drive home. Sharon started the car, brrrrm. Sharon reversed the car, crunch.

Sharon had crashed into a big tall white pole behind us that neither of us had seen. We couldn’t help but crack up laughing at this scenario – because when you’re 18, that is what you do! Never mind the thousands of dollars to repair the boot of the car!

Sharon maneuvred the car forward, scrape. What had she hit this time ?! She had scraped the front of the car against the gutter. We cracked up laughing again.

Sharon reversed the car away from the gutter, crunch. Oh that’s right, there was a big tall white pole behind us!! By now we were doubling over in stitches from the laughter and it seemed that we were never going to stop.

This is the thing about being 18. You just have a whole other focus on life. And you know what? It is a FUN FOCUS.

When does that fun focus fade away? And Why does it fade away? And why should it fade away?

Just the other day I was at the local medical centre and as I was reversing my own car… you guessed it, crunch. Did I crack up laughing at the situation?  Instead I was a knotted ball of stress. I jumped out of my car, slammed the door behind me, filled with profuse apologies to the drivers of the other car, pleading with them to please get out of the car and check the damage on their car.

I kid you not, these people were very blasé about the matter. “No it’s okay, don’t worry about it,” the couple said, “It’s an old bomb anyway.” Dearie me! You have an old bomb and you have the luxury of not worrying about someone hitting your car?! I wish I were you right now.

But you know, in many ways, those people were right. Their vehicle was probably already undergoing repairs, and maybe it wasn’t. What’s more, we were both leaving the medical centre – whilst my visit to the doctors was just a routine check, maybe those people had a lot more to worry about in that instant than a bit of metal crumpling on their old bomb?

And perhaps that was a lesson to be learned. Maybe we can just be blasé or fold over in stitches of laughter over these matters. It doesn’t matter whether we are 18 or 38, and it doesn’t matter if we have a Maserati or a bomb.  It’s all part of life and maybe we could choose the fun focus instead of the stress focus.