Surprisingly, in the previous post on the topic of adaptation, I left out the part that inspired it.

This was the speed at which one can get used to driving on the left side of the road.

In the first few days, I felt like my brain would be unable to override more than 30 years of ingrained habits.

On my first trip, a Czech taxi driver of my age reassured me that it’s easier than one might think, but at that time, it still seemed very distant.

The secret here, as in many other areas of life, is probably:

Practice!

I had some advantage since I don’t drive a car here, but I do participate in traffic daily by bicycle.

During the “painful adjustment” phase, I often thought that all this might be a very new stimulus for my brain and my entire nervous system.

After a bit of reading, it turns out this is indeed the case, as “when the brain starts to get used to left-side driving, numerous cognitive and neurological processes take place.”

These affect motor skills, the part responsible for spatial attention, speed and distance estimation, and many other visual processing systems.

From a practical perspective,

“The brain’s plasticity allows for the quick learning and adaptation of these new skills and knowledge.”

In reality, this is indeed the case, so after the initial shock of the first few days, this process can surprisingly go quickly; you just have to practice! 🙂

And what does this skill give us?

<aside> ✅ If nothing else, it gives us confidence that we can adapt to seemingly hopeless situations much more easily than we might think.

</aside>

And perhaps even more importantly: always look RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT before stepping onto the road, to be sure... 😊