Mastering the Art of Stick Shift: From Intimidation to Enjoyment

Learning to drive a stick shift is one of the things I mastered in life because of the effort and practice I’ve invested. I can still remember the day I learned how to drive a manual transmission car. My cousin stopped by our house and I asked him to teach me how to drive. The only problem was his car was a stick shift. I honestly got intimidated by those horrendous three pedals and that hair-chilling gear shifter, but nothing stopped me from wanting to learn because I knew it would be worth it and I thought I would make me look cooler.

So he grabbed the keys and drove to a parking lot that had a wide empty road.

He stopped, turned off the car, got out and said “Okay, your turn. ” So I began the initiation into the high art of driving a stick shift. He gave me all the instructions, he told me to press down on the clutch so I can start the car.

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I kept my left foot on the clutch and put the car in first gear. I slowly released the clutch as I was slowly pressing on the gas pedal. Then, boom! I stalled and the car shut off. My cousin started laughing. I tried to get the car started again and I still stalled on my fifth attempt. He continued laughing while giving me advices. Finally, on my sixth attempt I got the car going.

When he saw that I could stop and get the car moving normally and shift gears without grinding the clutch, he gave me the green light to drive to the main streets and freeways.

It took me a lot of practices and effort before I got the gist of it. It was all worth it, I actually enjoyed it and promised that my next car would be a stick shift. At first I thought having a stick shift car would only make me look cooler, but when I had my own car I actually learned that it’s less expensive then automatic cars, gets better gas mileage and most of all it’s simply more fun!