There’s 3 things that really stand out for me that I would say made a massive difference to my life:
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Cordless screw driver. Bought the day after building a flat pack bed with a crappy screw.driver that just shredded my hand. Thought it was frivolous at the time, but I’ve used it so much since. It’s light, small enough to fit in my pocket and good for 90% of DIY tasks.
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Tassimo coffee machine. Bought it 9 years ago, use it every day. Nice quick easy coffee. What’s not to like.
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My first DSLR camera. It was a Nikon D50 back in 2005/6 and it sparked my interest in photography to this day. It gave me a hobby I can take lots of places and do it alone or with others. I never loved the D50 camera itself, but I did get some really nice shots with it
1: My motorbike - hands down my best purchase. That has single handedly done more for my mental health than the last 9 years of various anti depressants.
2: My PC - the same as others. It’s just nice to be able to have the option to do just about everything.
3: A car - I didn’t really buy this. My mum gave it to me as a first car. It’s not the flashiest. It’s just the most basic type. But I love it. I spent 23 years just putting off getting my licence until I just decided to get it just to get it out of the way. And I have missed put on so much by it. The sense of freedom, not having to rely on getting lifts, or getting public transport. (Not opposes to public transport. It’s just that where I live, it’s a pain for commuting)
Out of curiosity, how does the motorbike help your mental health? Is it having transportation in general, or the feeling of riding a motorbike specifically?
I’m gonna be honest. I find it really hard to describe the feeling. I’ll try, though, but I’ll try. Sorry if it doesn’t make sense.
It’s not just a mode of transportation to me, at least. There’s an insane sense of freedom to it. The adrenaline from having sports car acceleration speeds just straight between your legs. It’s like when people say to play music as a coping mechanism. Only this mechanism isn’t just sitting around. It actively forces your mind off those things. Like, yeah, you’ll think about it. You may still have those megatove thoughts. But they just sorta melt away and get blasted away, almost. The raw sounds of the engine, only adding to it. Ot drains it all out, (If you like the sound, I personally have a stock exhaust, as thays more than enough, I really enjoy the sound of just amy exhaust, well, except the shitty tinny ones thay oiss everyone off. Or the unnecessarily loud ones)
And the fact that you are sat on top of a solid block of steel, with thousands of explosions happening right there. Woth a fuel tank just above it. Kicking out insane power, even a 67hp 650cc. With pretty much nothing protecting you. One slight mistake, and it all goes tits up. But you’re in control of it. And it’s gonna keep you upright if you handle it. It’s relaxing. I also think it helps because you can feel what the bike is doing. Even with slight inputs.
Keanu Reeves said, “If you ride a bicycle, you can kind of understand.”
Sorry if thays too long and doesn’t make sense. And sorry if it’s kinda cringe. But, I truly do love the bike.
(Also, from what I’ve seen, the biker community is insanely inclusive and nice. Even just riding past another rider. Just that simple gesture of “Hey man,” it makes you feel like you’re somewhere you belong)
Very good writeup.
That’s the biiiiig thing for me. It’s incredible meditation. The road demands the rider’s full attention for short-time planning, spatial visualization, sensory inputs, and muscle control. It’s literally a matter of life and death. At the same time other parts of the brain aren’t required, so the mind wanders, but in a much subdued way where stormy thoughts turn into a calm flow.
Stay left, look in, lean, apex, watch out for the pothole, left again, shift down ahead of the intersection, ok they are yielding, back on the throttle, shift up, don’t lean over the manhole covers, wow view’s pretty, hey pedestrians looking to cross let’s come to a smooth stop…
Haha driving a motorbike is very different in your country :D
Here I average 15km/hr or less, due to heavy traffic. It’s fairly stressful, and it sucks in the monsoon. I’ve got scars on both legs where I’ve been burned by unprotected exhaust pipes. You can smell the meat cooking when it happens. All working class people here have these scars. When I need to relax, I take the bus – it’s a luxury!
Still, it beats not having a motorbike by a lot, so I can still relate :)
Oh damn, yeah thats a lot different here. Especially the monsoons. This may sound dumb, but how does the bikes hold up in that weather condition? And another dumb one, how do you get burnt by the exhausts?
Thay sounds peaceful though, with the bus. Especially compared to the bike.
Bikes are just wonderful, stay safe, man.
Well, we don’t have winter – so very well! It’s not unusual for bikes to last 15 years or more. In the big cities, the condition of the roads is also surprisingly good in Viet Nam (countryside…depends). Road work is bizarrely efficient and happens overnight, only closing as much of the road as they need to work on in 1 night, then opening it up again in the morning. So my bike doesn’t accumulate much wear and tear.
We also get floods. Driving some bikes in 40cm of flowing water is possible, but difficult. Sometimes there is no choice. If the water blocks the exhaust that’s obviously not going to function, but barring that you can slowly drive. It doesn’t wear down the bikes much either though, surprisingly!
The exhausts have a metal radiator that gets very hot, especially in traffic when there’s little airflow and you’re not using your engine efficiently (accelerate, stop, repeat) . Usually there is a temperature resistant plastic shield to stop inadvertent contact. However many people remove it, or it breaks and they don’t replace it (…pretty universally regarded as a dick move). The traffic is so dense, you’re physically pressed up against all the other bikes. So if someone decides to be a jerk and muscle through, they will burn many of the people they pass as their exhaust pipe presses against their legs. Feels easily over 100 degrees and will sear your flesh in an impressive manner. Like, you can hear it before you feel it.
Most people are not jerks, but due to population density, there’s always a jerk present. So we all have 3-4cm oval scars on our legs, unless we are ultra rich so don’t need to drive a bike – these are the scars of the working class. Colloquially, it’s known as a “Saigon Kiss”. Although you’ll get them easily in Ha Noi too, haha.
On the bright side, nearly everyone obeys the speed limit, which is 50km/hr, and the majority of the people drive on the correct side of the road and wear a helmet. On the other hand, there’s always someone doing none of these things. Impacting the road hurt less than I thought it would, I’m thankful for the low speed limit. Although I still very much do not recommend it getting in a motorbike accident here. The number of tourists with no license on the road is an increasing problem, too. They also tend to run home when they hit someone.