Writing Exercise 15: Autopilot vs. Out-of-Pilot

One of my guilty pleasures in life is to get in my car and drive.  Now, I don’t mean driving to run an errand.  I mean I like to get in my car and drive long distances.  I start by plugging in my iPhone to my stereo system, and then head towards Interstate 87 North, the nearest highway by Fordham Manor, where I live.  Once I merge onto I-87, my iPhone and I rock that ride for the entire the distance, with me singing mostly off key to all the songs on my playlist,.

It is quite the norm for me to use the cruise control feature on my car’s steering wheel.  When I was younger, I used to think cruise control meant the car would drive its self, steering left and right all the way to the desired destination.  I thought all cars with cruise control were akin to Kit, the automated or was it robotic car in the television show, “Knight Rider.”  Imagine my dismay when I learned Kit was not real and cruise control only continued the speed of the vehicle set by the driver. 

Nowadays, I know better and I use cruise control quite often, fully understanding what it can and cannot do.  I set the speed and ease my foot off the gas pedal so I can use it to keep rhythm to the song I am singing to while driving. 

Sometimes, I can drive for hours, partying all the way to the next point of interest, and not remember most of the drive.  I call this the autopilot mode.  Just to be clear, this is not a reference to the car in “Knight Rider” again.  This autopilot mode is the experience of forgetting what I am doing, yet doing it all the same and getting the job done.  However, while I am doing the task, in this case: driving, I am doing it successfully, though most of my consciousness was on something else, in this case: singing – and maybe a little dancing. This is the autopilot mode.  You may have experienced this before.  You might have talked on the phone while walking to work, all the while, avoided crashing into people or dodged cars as you crossed the street.  But when you get to work, you may not even recall having walked those four blocks from the train to your office.  Or perhaps you have had the experience where you are meeting someone new for the first time, and you exchange pleasantries and names, but as soon as you walk away, you can’t remember half of what they said or even their name!  When part of your consciousness is diverted or distracted, you might be on autopilot.

If you have done that, you are not alone.  Many people experience various parts of their lives on autopilot mode.  When the activity is routine, boring, or simple, it is natural to put our attention towards something else.  In fact, psychologists who study motivational theories say if we are performing a mundane task, we need to have some extra stimulation or arousal otherwise our performance will suffer.  So being on autopilot is not only helpful in these situations, but necessary for us to complete some tasks successfully.

However, there is a vast difference between being on autopilot and daydreaming versus being out-of-pilot and out of control.  For those of us who are guilty of texting while walking, we know when we have multi-tasked just one too many things when a car honks at us as they nearly misses running us over!  Being out-of-pilot is just that!  It is when we are no longer in control of the situation we are engaged in.  Being out of control means that something, or someone, is going to make decisions for us.  

And in some cases that is very much okay.  However, if we are in a plane and it was out-of-pilot, we rightfully would be nervous.  There are other times when we should also be anxious.  For example, texting while walking might be dangerous, especially if we are crossing the street, but texting while driving is being out-of-pilot, as too much of our attention and vision is being drawn away from the quick approaching road ahead of us. 

I tend to find my out-of-pilot mode kicks on when I am angry or upset with something or someone and time is too short to sort out all of my feelings.  In those situations, I can become quite unreasonable and demanding, not act like my usual charming self.  Another place where my out-of-pilot mode engages is when I am eating.  On many occasions, I will start a meal by looking at my plate and think, “How will I ever finish all of this food.”  Minutes later, I will be surprised by the empty plate staring back at me and I will think, “Where did all that food go?”

So when I am upset, or faced with a plate full of food, I practice turning the out-of-pilot off and engage the manual override.  I mentally scan my body and monitor my forkfuls along with my chewing. This works most of the time, but usually I am so on autopilot in my life, I forget to continue this practice.  I so wish I had an automated or robotic plate, like Kit, that would help remind me to be more engaged. Until then, I wish for myself as well as all people to engage and enjoy the autopilot and turn off the out-of-pilot.  If you need help, try using my manual override code: practice.