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This 1 critical piece of advice from my dad literally saved my life

James Julian
5 min readJun 8, 2023

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My eldest son is approaching driving age, which is a lowkey terrifying thought.

It’s not that I don’t trust him.

He’s an incredibly smart kid who stays out of trouble and makes good decisions for the most part.

While driving opens up a whole new world for kids, it also opens up a whole new world of risks.

Drinking and driving. Speed. The misplaced sense of invincibility that comes with youth.

Yet I’m less worried about him than I am about other people. Here’s the thing: if you have a modicum of common sense, the greatest risk on the road doesn’t usually come from your own choices.

It comes from the poor decisions of others.

Digital illustration of a car crash between a beige Honda Civic and a black SUV)
Trusting others to make good decisions on the road can cost you your life (Digital illustration credit: James Julian/Dall-E2)

The day I almost died

So there I was, returning home after dropping my sister, her husband, and her son off at the airport after she’d come to pay us a visit. We both had young families at the time — her son was about 6–7 months old, mine was a newborn.

It’s a weird time as a human actually, early-early parenthood.

I remember strapping my son into his car seat for the first time when we left the hospital and feeling like everything was out to kill us.

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James Julian
James Julian

Written by James Julian

James is a journalist, author, entrepreneur, and investor. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JamesJulianWealth

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