I admit to watching Canada’s Worst Driver, because usually there is a good belly laugh in each episode…. there is sometimes a driver I find disturbing, but usually I do get my laugh.
You, however, were nothing to laugh at. Silently you sat and let your partner/passenger call you down, cuss you, berate your driving, and grab the wheel from your hands. You never talked back once. You took his abuse (and yes, that was abuse) without a word, quietly being less and less confident in yourself. You even defended him at one point to the judges, with a “that’s just his way” sort of dismissal. That way is not good, dear. It’s not good at all.
So the host points his behaviour out to him… gives him a CD of his less than shining moments, and an epiphany happens. Suddenly, he realizes how bad he has been, and vows to make amends. And when he uses positive reinforcement and praises how you’re doing, you pass the next challenge wonderfully. He is a changed man.
That brings me to the reason for my letter today, Melissa. I’m worried about you. You see the show lasted an hour… I realize that in real life the occurence of events was probably much much longer, but in tv time he had his epiphany, completely changed his ways, and you became a confident driver graduating from the show in an hour. So I’m finding the reality of the change very hard to accept. I’m guessing some time has passed now since you actually did leave, and I wanted to check on you…. are things still going well? And not in a “that’s just his way” kind of way…. Are they really different and better? I want them to be for you. You deserve them to be for you.
I wish you well.
Sock Girl