This month, Lewis from Takona tells us why a project car can be the perfect salve for your mental health.
A couple of years ago right when Takona started, whilst chatting with friends about cars, a term came about for how cars seem to help us. We coined the term, ‘automindful’, a way to explain why the things we do with cars are more than just transport for many of us.
They provide us with an escape, something to focus on that takes us away from the stresses and strains of daily life. The things we do with cars are often forms of mindfulness. We just don’t realise it.
The mindfulness of project cars & mental health
Mindfulness activities are ways that we enable ourselves to be present in a moment, requiring us to put distractions aside and focus on what we are doing. Most people will think of things like yoga or colouring books when they think of mindfulness & their mental health, they won’t think of cleaning a car thoroughly, spending an afternoon (“it’ll only be a ten minute job”) replacing parts, or going for a drive with the radio off and the windows down.
Well, they should. These activities force you to be present, they require a certain amount of engagement without distraction. They are mindfulness.
This is where the project car becomes the king of automindful. Not only does it tick all the boxes of mindfulness activities; it adds a huge sense of achievement and pride when the project makes progress, which in turn boosts your mental health.
Having a project that gives tangible results creates a huge sense of accomplishment; being able to look back on where the project started and where you’ve gotten to now is one of the best feelings in the world.
There is no greater feeling than taking a car that you’ve poured your time, your energy, and your soul into, for that first drive. The sound of a once-broken engine turning over for the first time will be the sweetest music you could ever hear.
Project cars, the social aspect
Along with the personal benefits of mindfulness from a project car, there’s a huge social aspect. Whether it be taking a newly fixed car to an event, spending evenings and weekends covered in oil and dirt working with your mates to get a job done, or heading out with your favourite people just for a drive.
These experiences and memories are what fill us with positive social energy, they top up the batteries that keep us going, and they bring us closer to the people around us.
There’s a sense of camaraderie from tackling a tough job with your best friends on a summer’s evening, one that’s hard to replicate anywhere else. Throw in a BBQ and a couple of drinks, and you can’t get much better.
As I grew up in the 90’s, my first real car culture film was The Fast And The Furious, the scene where Paul Walkers Brian pulls up at the late-night car meet, fresh from fitting new parts to the luminous green Mitsubishi Eclipse, instilled an aspiration to one day have a car I’d poured time into and could be proud of.
That film inspired a new generation of people to tinker with their cars in new expressive ways. From the hot rods of the 50s to the outrageous max power cars of the 90s and 00s, the car community has grown in all different ways, with the core being the pride in sharing your passion with others.
We build our cars to be an outward expression of ourselves, and we go to events to be a part of something bigger. We take pride in our work and want to share it with the people who share our passion.
I have more friends from being around cars than I have from anything else I’ve been involved in, there’s a fundamental connection made with cars, and the pinnacle of this is the project car.
The community comes on a journey with us as we’re building them; the people around are cheering us on, offering advice, and lending a hand. The project car is the mechanical embodiment of it taking a village to raise a child.
Project car challenges
I don’t want you to think that project cars are all smooth sailing and that nothing will ever be difficult in endeavouring to restore a car to its former glory. There will be jobs that seem impossible, things will break, and you will want to quit. But you’ll keep going because it will be worth it. The sense of achievement is only real if you’ve done something hard.
If everything was easy, you wouldn’t bother. This is what project cars give us, a challenge to overcome, something to make better again, and we love them because they challenge us. The saying rough seas make good sailors is brought to mind. You won’t feel like you’ve achieved something worthwhile if you didn’t have to challenge yourself.
There are going to be nights where you’re staring at a broken bolt that’s in an awkward-to-reach place, and you’ll want to just lock the garage and throw away the keys, but then you’ll be out for coffee with a friend, and they’ll ask how progress is coming along, and when you say you’re stuck, they’ll offer to help.
You’ve not got a broken car; you’ve got a challenge to tackle with your best friends. It might go wrong, and you might break more things, but you won’t care because the memories and the friendship will be worth it.
All the best,
Lewis
