The Responsibility of Healthy Driving Choices

More and more I have begun to realize that each and every time before I step into a car I have to completely evaluate my abilities to operate a vehicle under the given circumstances. Whether it's convenient or not. I know that I have driven un-medicated and exhausted numerous times before, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how dangerous this is. To me, it's the equivalent of driving drunk. While I have control over when I fall asleep or not, and I have pulled into rest-stops before, there is still a huge potential for me not only to lose my own life, but perhaps more tragically take another person's life.

I realized that my 3-4 hour medication began wearing off around 2:30, and I Today I was faced with one such decision. Soccer ended at 3pmcould certainly tell. We had no water for me to take my medication, although my medication was not completely out of my system. And in all honesty, I probably could have made it home just fine, just as I had done a thousand times before. I even drove 30 seconds from one parking lot to another to drop my friend off at his car. But when we got to his car, I told my 17 year old brother (who just got his license) that he needed to drive home. He asked me why and my response was that "It's unsafe if I do".
That's a huge step for me. Not gonna lie. It's sort of like giving up some pride and independence. It's also part of me realizing more and more that I am defective and that I can't view myself as normal, even if I want to. I have a responsibility to countless other lives, including my own, to make smart decisions. So today, I didn't drive. I probably could have, but I didn't. All it takes is one moment to ruin a lot of lives ... and it's just not worth the risk!