There is a lion in the way
A lion is in the streets...
January 1st - which happened to be my birthday was a day I spent indoors working and relaxing at intervals.
On one of those intervals, I competed at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, won the race and finished 32 secs above the second place finisher.
I've won races before in the game but this one was special - I have been playing the easy mode and I set my driving help level at 100%.
Why?
The ‘driving help’ feature helped me to brake effectively into corners without crashing easily into barriers. My first attempt at racing without using the ‘driving help” feature, I crashed at Turn 1. TURN 1!.
Never again, I said!
With the driving help, I was able to win easy mode races and for the hard mode races, I was able to compete for podium places even though I couldn't win because the other guys were so much faster than me.
At long last, I decided to try driving without using the ‘help’.
Never again, I said?
I chose to race without the ‘help’ at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit because I know the circuit like the back of my hand. Miraculously, I didn't crash at the first corner which was a hairpin - that's suspicious.
I went through the chicane between the seventh and ninth corner - I'll call them Turn 7 and Turn 9. If you're a racer, you would know how difficult that is.
That boosted my confidence that I could survive the last corner which is the most terrifying for me because of the high speed elevation change. I also made it through that but I still crashed later on in the race. Arghhh! My confidence needed a pep talk.
January 1: I chose to race at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - the most dangerous circuit in Formula 1 because of the super high speeds and corners - actually, it has the highest number of corners (27) for any circuit in F1.
Best place for me to drive through as a rookie without ‘driving help’ - really?
Once I made it through the first corner, I was in sync with the machine - it was like a dance.
The reason why I was slower with the driving help was because of the ‘help’. The feature automatically slowed my car down before we reach a braking zone and helped me to make the corner safely - safely but slowly.
With the ‘help’ turned off, I carried more speed into corners and had a much faster exit speed out of the corners which made me reach top speeds faster on straights.
In total, I found out that I was losing around 8 - 10 seconds a lap with the driver help feature. That is a lot of time!
Proverbs 26:13 KJV
[13] The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; A lion is in the streets.
The “Lion” I feared was the corners in the game.
In our lives, we have so many “Lions” in the way - most times, imaginary Lions and the fear of that makes us afraid to go out and try something new or get something done.
It's an illusion.
Why are you getting this?
Because you probably might have set new year's resolutions like every other year and your resolutions scare you - “A lion is in the streets.”
What if it isn't? What if it's just an illusion?
Gambling in situations like this is productive. If it's there, we fight it. If it isn't, we sail safely through.
If we don't go out at all, we get nothing.
I intentionally made this to be my first newsletter in 2025 so I can ‘judge’ you when the year ends and you don't do hard things.
Aha! Not true!
But I hope you do the hard things. Happy new year to you. ❤️