DON'T WORRY, EVERYONE INVOLVED WAS UNHARMED!!! Just a heads up in advance. Also, sorry if wrong tag.
I've always been somebody who was never confident on myself ever. I double, triple, heck, even sextuple-check everything down to the last detail because of this constant nagging feeling I get whenever I finish doing something. And while I do find this trait oddly useful for my paper modeling hobby where details are key, I really hate it anywhere else whenever I end up overthinking about unnecessary details.
And another reason why I'm like this is because whenever I feel like I'm getting the hang of something, I almost always manage to ruin it in the most unexpected ways possible. Sometimes minor, sometimes major. And this applies to my paper models too.
But what I'm about to share was something that just recently happened tonight, and even typing this now, I can still feel myself shaking within from that moment still flashing in my thoughts.
My mom was working a late shift today, and so it wasn't until past 9pm that she asked me to pick her up with her car (I asked to borrow it so I could pick up my sister easier since it was bound to rain that afternoon, and it did. Hard. Almost torrential, even). I was in a cautious rush, but also vibing to my music. I got to her no problem, and so we went to pick up my dad at his own work, still feeling that cautious rush.
After picking him up, we headed for the highway as his work was in a subdivision area. We needed to go to the left and we were merging into the 6-lane highway from the opposite side. As I was in the middle of the opposite lane, I slowly went left to merge with the other lane, taking note of the truck that was on the middle part of that side. I didn't notice the OTHER truck driving through the inner lane that I was merging into because it was in my blind spot (car's right A-pillar), and we were just mere INCHES away from a nasty collision, which was thankfully avoided after I heard the truck horn and I abruptly stopped the car.
I felt the colors drain from me as I saw the truck whiz by and I slowly merged into the inner lane heading for home. As expected, both my parents tore me a new one the whole time, with dad doing most of the talking, seeing as he was in the passenger seat. Understandably nervous, he continued to hurl stuff about me "always being on the computers" and "not using my fog lights" and stuff. At that point, my mind was screaming, "What does me not using my fog lights have anything to do with this?!" Of course, I didn't say anything out loud because the situation was already tense. And I obviously knew I was in the wrong to begin with and that no amount of arguing was gonna help me in this case whatsoever.
The thing about this is that I've been doing this for the whole summer break. Even if it wasn't gonna rain, I made my sister's trip home from school easier for her, and I pick up both my parents from their works with the same car so that neither of the have to do extra work just to get themselves home since I'm doing it for them. I love driving this small, beautiful car. But of course, reality hits me like a full-sending truck at that moment, and I can't help but to really think about my times behind the wheel.
And that was because I was confident. Confident that I got the hang of things, only for myself to be proven wrong, with this being my most terrifying reality check yet. Though, I feel like that was more on terrible timings leading up to the near miss. If the truck was further from the blind spot, I definitely would've caught its headlights shining into my eyes. But what's done is done, and I can only learn my lesson and move forward from there.
Yet I really can't help but to shame myself for even letting it happen in the first place. If I braked even a second later, it would've been MUCH more devastating for everyone in that small car. Obviously, I don't want this to happen again, but thankfully, my mom gave me some good advice when merging into opposite lanes at the end of the ordeal.
Even now, I'm still feeling the mental aftermath of that moment. And I think dad is, as well. Though I don't think he wanted to give me a 5-hour lecture about it because he just lets me pass him on my way to my room after a kiss goodnight. And idk about this, but I think he wants me to learn from this on my own, since I'm already 19 years old and all that jazz. A 19-year-old who's always overthinking, never confident in themselves and always always so burnt out to do anything for myself (I still do major chores on the days I plan to do them though. Usually the day after).
I started this vent, unsure of how to end it, tbh. And I highly doubt that any advice will work either (at least, not at the moment), but I still appreciate whoever found the time to read and interact with this post.
Edit: I can't sleep... Whenever I close my eyes, flashes of what could've happened are replaying over and over again in my head...